To Be the Queen of Games
by Dracossack
Summary: Many who have played Yu-Gi-Oh! know that the mechanics of the game portrayed by the anime and manga are vastly different to those in the real world. This story will show Duel Monsters in a light much more similar to its real world counterpart. Featuring many familiar faces from the anime, it will follow a young girl who dreams of becoming the world champion.
1. Chapter 1

_**To Be the Queen of Games**_

Author's note: I have been playing competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! for almost two years now. It has been one of the most fun experiences of my life, and I have made quite a few friends doing it. I had an idea to create a Yu-Gi-Oh! story in which Duel Monsters is played more like real world, competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!. We shall see how that works out. The two main characters are original creations of mine, and the story will feature many familiar faces from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime. The new summoning mechanics introduced in 5D's and Zexal, Synchro and Xyz, will be present. However, I will not be including characters that were not in the original Anime. Honestly, I was opposed to the new mechanics at first, but I promise the game is just as fun and just as cool with them. I am writing under the assumption that most readers are not familiar with competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!, and as such, will try to provide as much possible information. I have chosen to keep explanations within the story as brief as possible, with more details in a card database and glossary that will be updated as new jargon, mechanics, and cards are introduced. The story will begin in April of 2013, roughly four months after I began playing, and will move through several formats leading up to the present. Also, I have set the story, and Domino City, in the United States, mostly because I do not wish to wrongly portray Japanese culture. Also, my knowledge of the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG, which is what is played in Asian territories, is limited, as it is rather different from the TCG, which is played in the rest of the world. The story setting assumes only the TCG exists, so as to avoid the disparity's we have to deal with at Worlds in real life. I am a new writer and any feedback to help me improve would be wonderful. Thank you! And now, without further adieu, let us begin.

Update: Changed the story title. Fixed a few typos and grammatical errors, and added the Forbidden and Limited list that was in effect at the time in which this chapter takes place. If anyone finds any more typos or grammatical errors, please do let me know. I would greatly appreciate it.

**Chapter 1:**

_April 6th, 2013_

Rena sighed as she finished shuffling her opponent's deck. Setting it on his side of the table, she wished him good luck, and he returned the statement. It had been a rather long day, and the small, brunette girl was glad that the tournament was coming to an end. She was currently about to begin game 3 of the finals match, and there was a small audience gathered around the two duelists' table.

"Your move," her opponent declared. She had been zoning out a bit as he went through his turn, but she still had payed attention to everything he did. She picked up the five cards she had placed face down on the table, having not bothered to look at them as her opponent made his play. As she wasn't playing any hand traps this game, there were no possible responses for her to make on his first turn. Drawing her sixth card to start her turn, a small smirk began to form on her face.

"_Perfect_," she thought.

For his starting turn, her opponent had summoned Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Dragon, activated Fire Formation – Tenki, adding a Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear to his hand, as well as a Fire Formation – Tensen from Dragon's effect, and set two cards to his back row. A typical opening Fire Fist play, and not in any way an unintelligent one, it just so happened that Rena had opened with a perfect hand. She almost felt bad for what she was about to do. Almost.

"_Well, as long as th__ere__ isn't a Soul Drain set, anyway_," she again thought to herself. It was a risk she would have to take, as she would likely lose this game anyway if either of the two set cards were Soul Drain. She activated Mermail Abyssmegalo's effect to special summon itself from her hand, discarding Atlantean Marksman and Atlantean Heavy Infantry to the graveyard for the cost of the effect. Her opponent had no response. She then activated the two Atlantean's effects, destroying one of the back row cards, which was a Mirror Force, and the Dragon. She also activated Abyssmegalo's effect to add an "Abyss-" card to her hand, which was, in this case, and almost every case, Abyss-sphere. Knowing that the other set card was the Tensen that had been searched, and that it was useless without a face up Beast-Warrior type monster, she then summoned Deep Sea Diva. Her opponent groaned, and she knew she was home free. There were a few comments and complaints among the spectators, mostly about how lucky Rena was and how there was no skill in this game. They began to leave, knowing the game was over.

"Someone opened well, didn't they?" he joked as she summoned an Atlantean Marksman from her deck with Diva's effect. He knew all too well what was about to happen.

"So it would seem," she responded with a smile. She tributed the Deep Sea Diva for Abyssmegalo's final effect to attack twice, and proceeded to the battle phase. She attacked directly first with Atlantean Marksman for 1400 points of damage, bringing her opponent to 6600. She then used the Marksman's effect to summon an Atlantean Dragoons from her deck and declared an attack with it for 1800, bringing the total down to 4800. She then attacked twice with Abyssmegalo, dealing 2400 with each attack, ending the final game of the match. The boy sitting across the table from her laughed as he picked up his cards. "Didn't feel like scooping when you saw the Diva?" she inquired.

"Well, I considered it, but I figured I'd make sure you knew what you were doing. I've scooped so many times to people who didn't know the OTK, it's sickening," he said.

"Ah, I see your point," Rena stated as she finished placing her cards in her deck box and rolling up her play mat. "It was nice to meet you, dude." She offered her opponent a hand shake.

"You too!" he replied as he shook her hand. He was rather cheerful for someone who just got sacked, but at least he's got a good attitude, she decided. She liked him. He was funny, laid back, and, if she must admit, pretty cute. Perhaps she would see if he wanted to hang out later after the next tournament. Her thoughts then drifted back to the actual match itself. True, there was very little skill in her winning that final round, she knew, but that's Duel Monsters for you. Luck has always been, and likely always would be, a factor in this game. One of the many true skills of Duel Monsters was minimizing luck's influence, at least in your opponent's favor. That simple fact was one she had realized long ago, and she was at a loss as to why other duelists found that so hard to accept. It led to her, and many other successful players, being criticized for their use of commonly played and powerful decks, but it didn't bother her. She was winning, and they were not. She walked to the front of the store to collect her winnings from the tournament: a box of the latest set, Cosmo Blazer. The store owner looked up as Rena approached.

"Did you win again?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"It would appear that way," she replied with a giggle, handing him the match slip containing her and her opponent's signatures, proof that the win was legitimate. She had just bested 31 people in a local tournament, a common occurrence for Rena on the weekends when she wasn't playing in a large, official tournament.

"Dude, if I get any more complaints about you always taking all of the winnings, I may have to ban you," he joked as he handed her the prize. In larger tournaments, there would be cash prizes, but as this was simply a store tournament, the prize was in merchandise.

"You wouldn't!" she exclaimed, a look of feigned hurt on her face. She knew damn well she was his best customer.

"No, of course not, I'm just saying, you always win," he responded with a chuckle.

"Well, if you really want, I can judge for you sometimes instead of playing," she offered sincerely. It wasn't her intention to monopolize the winnings, she just happened to be rather skilled, and she enjoyed the game to no end.

"Well, I truly would appreciate the help, and I know Jason would too," he stated. Jason was the only judge that this store was able to consistently staff at tournaments. He was very knowledgeable about the game, as well as being excellent at dealing with difficult people, which was absolutely essential in judging. But, he was only one person. "But please don't feel compelled to do so if you don't really want to. I'd rather you had fun." Rena smiled.

"Thanks, Mr. Kamiya," she said. "I'll see you soon."

"I know," the older man replied with a chuckle. Rena smiled again. She liked him too. He always treated her well and was a kind person in general. He really enjoyed bringing joy into people's lives, which is probably why he owned a game shop. She pushed a strand of her long, brunette hair behind her ear as she placed the box he had handed her into her bag. She usually opened her boxes at home, because if one opened packs of cards post-tournament, other players would flock to try and make trades. She swore they were like vultures at times. As good as she was at playing, she was awful at trading, and her best friend, who was a trading savant, was absent from the tournament on this particular weekend. Musing on the source of her friend's trading savvy, figuring it had something to do with the low cut shirts she wore to tournaments, Rena stepped out of the store and into the now darkened Domino City. Looking around, she let out a sigh. Not out of sadness or discontent, however. She was, in fact, rather content; she never really knew what to do when things were over, regardless of the event. She began to walk down the street, getting a few smiles and nods from strangers who either recognized her or simply thought she was attractive. Rena Bishop was relatively well known, having been featured at many national level tournaments as well as the previous year's Duel Monsters World Championship. Her invitation to the event had been earned by coming in 1st place at the United States National Championship with the then-popular Wind-Up deck. It was, in Rena's opinion, an ever so slightly disappointing win, simply due to the fact that the deck itself was so effective that there was little room for personal innovation. Not that it bothered her too much; creativity doesn't win games, efficiency does, and Wind-Ups were incredibly efficient. Still, she liked being able to innovate decks. But she would always play what was, in her eyes, the best deck for any given event, regardless of whether she built it or not. That was part of the reason for her success. She ended up losing in the second round of top cut at the World Championship to none other than Yugi Muto, the "King of Games" himself. He was playing Dino Rabbit at that particular tournament. It had been an incredibly close game. Yugi opened game one with the dreaded "Rabbit-Tour Guide" hand, and had gone first. Not that Rena could complain. She herself won many a game with the very same set-up, and opening "Magician-Shark" in Wind-Ups was even worse. Interestingly enough, she had managed to take game 1, despite staring down what many would consider an insurmountable field. However, she was outplayed in both of the following rounds, and ended up losing the match. Rena ended up taking 5th place overall in her following play off matches, the best of the four in the Top 8 loss brackets. She smiled as she recalled that day. Despite her loss, it had been thrilling to be featured on televisions across the world as she played against the boy who was considered the best at this game. She had also still received quite a bit of prize money, as well as sponsorship to travel to any and all events taking place across the country during the next season. As she unlocked the door to her apartment, she noticed the lights were now on, and figured her roommate had returned.

"I'm home!" Rena called out as she entered the building.

"Did you win?" a voice called from the kitchen as Rena set her bag down on the coffee table in the living room.

"Yup," she shot back. A taller, slender girl with short, jet black hair walked into the room.

"Nice, dude. Are we going to open the box now?" she inquired excitedly.

"Damn, Nat, could you be any more eager?" the shorter girl replied with exasperation in her voice. She was mostly kidding, but she liked to mess with her best friend and roommate, Natalia, whenever she could.

"Well, I'm one Bear and a Tiger King away from having my Fire Fist deck built, so yes, Rena, I am very eager," she said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Rena just laughed and pulled the box out of her bag and set it on the table.

"Wait," she said as Nat reached for the box. "Food first."

"You are such a buzzkill," replied Nat, sticking her tongue out at the brunette.

"I get that way when I'm hungry. Come on, let's go. I'll even pay." Rena headed out the door with with Nat following her, albeit a bit begrudgingly. Even she couldn't say no to food though. Free food, at that.

They walked at a reasonable pace through town, looking in to various stores and restaurants as they passed by.

"So," Nat began. "Where are we going to eat?"

"Yea, maybe we should have thought about that before we left," Rena admitted. "Oh, screw it, let's just go to Wendy's." It just so happened there was a Wendy's on the corner they were approaching.

"Works for me," said Nat. They entered the fast food restaurant and began to place their orders. Rena turned to survey the rest of the building afterward, noticing that a short, spiky haired boy in a blue high school uniform was sitting in the back corner along with a blonde guy in a green jacket.

"Well, would you look at that," Rena said. Nat turned around to see what Rena was talking about. "It's Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler. What are the chances?" As she finished, Yugi looked up from his meal. He made eye contact, and before Rena could look away, convinced that he wouldn't remember her, he waved at her and smiled. "Wow. I guess maybe he remembers me from Worlds."

"That, or he just thinks you're hot," Nat responded, an obvious smirk on her face.

"Gross, dude, he's still in high school," Rena shot back, elbowing her friend.

"I'm just saying, you're a cute college girl, and he's a teenage boy. Plus, you're one of the most popular duelists in the country. It's inevitable," her friend teased, rubbing her arm where she had been struck. It was then that the worker handed her a bag containing her food. She picked it up and began walking towards their table.

"I'm gonna go say hello. And I'm not that popular, weirdo," As she reached their table, Yugi again looked at her and smiled.

"Hey! It's Rena, right?" he asked her.

"Yup. I'm surprised you remember me, dude," she replied.

"How am I to forget the duelist that beat Laggia-Set 4?" he said with a laugh.

"Well, I opened with Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, and Book of Moon, along with Magician-Shark, so it really isn't too impressive," she said. He laughed.

"Oh, don't sell yourself short. You were one of the best opponents I had across that whole event," he said cheerfully. Which Rena thought was rather odd. Yugi seemed incredibly different from when they played at the World Championship. He seemed so much more cool and intense then. Now he just seemed like a goofy high school kid. Plus, he seemed a bit shorter now. She dismissed it as having been that he was simply more focused in a tournament setting, and no one at that particular event would deny feeling quite a lot of adrenaline throughout the days of competition. That, or maybe he cut his hair a bit. She'd swear half his height was from his crazy hair style. "And who might this be?" he asked as Nat walked up to the table.

"Oh, Yugi, this is my best friend Natalia," Rena said quickly. Introductions were always a bit awkward for her. Nat held out her hand to shake Yugi's.

"You can just call me Nat. Almost everyone does. It's nice to meet you, Yugi," she said.

"So when do I get an introduction, dude?" Joey finally spoke, having remained silent through Rena and Yugi's conversation.

"Oh right. Sorry, Joey," Yugi said with a laugh. "This is Joey Wheeler, my best friend."

"Yea, we know who he is," Nat chuckled.

"Really now? Usually people forget about me when they meet Yugi," he said smiling. Despite being one of the highest ranked Duelists in the World, quite a few people often ignored him in favor of Yugi, which probably would have bothered most people, but Joey didn't mind. It didn't exactly seem like Yugi enjoyed the spotlight anyway.

"Well we knew who both of you were. Anyone who plays Duel Monsters would, considering you guys hold the most Premier Level tops in the country," Rena stated.

"Well from what I hear, you're rapidly catching up," Yugi said. Rena blushed and looked down. She was already bad at accepting praise, and the fact that it was coming from someone she respected a great deal made it that much worse. "Anyway, why don't you guys sit with us? We're in no hurry to leave, and it's nice having new people to talk to."

"Sure, thanks," both girls replied. As Rena began to take her food out of the bag, Nat began to ask Yugi and Joey various questions.

"What are you both playing, these days?" was her first inquiry.

"Well, I've been playing Spellbooks lately. It isn't really the best deck right now, but it's fun to play, and rumor has it that the deck will get some new support in the next set," Yugi answered. "Plus, I've always kind of had a thing for spellcaster archetypes."

"Yea, and I heard that being able to banish anything without targeting is pretty good," Joey added with a smirk. The other three let out small laughs at this. He was referring to one of the best cards in the Spellbook deck: Spellbook of Fate. It's power alone made the deck worth playing, and the boss monster, High Priestess of Prophecy, was rather powerful as well. The only real problem at the moment was that it wasn't really able to keep up with the speed of Mermails or the consistent aggressiveness of Fire Fists. "This is true, Joey."

"Do we know what the new support is?" Rena asked Yugi.

"The new cards in the set are going to be announced on Monday. All I know is that it's going to be called 'Spellbook of Judgment,'" he said.

"Now how would you know that?" Nat asked. Both girls knew very well that Maxamillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, was impeccable when it came to containing information leaks. They rarely knew anything before his company wanted them to.

"Oh, well, Kaiba may have told me," he replied.

"What?!" Rena asked incredulously. "You're friends with Seto Kaiba!?"

"Well, I wouldn't really call us friends," Yugi responded somewhat sheepishly. "But he and his brother, Mokuba, both go to my school. He's really more of a begrudging rival, really, but he can be pretty cool at times. He randomly decided to tell me about this new card. I guess he knew about it from the consultations he occasionally gives to Pegasus, as he himself owns a rather successful game company. He really is pretty sharp when it comes to designing games, so it's no wonder Pegasus gets help from him. I never got him to tell me what its effect was, though." Yugi had a look of disappointment on his face as he said this, but he immediately perked up again. "It's all right though, I'll know what it does soon enough!"

"Wow, that's awesome," Rena said sincerely. Seriously though, how were high school kids so much more informed than her on this game.

"_Infuriating_," she thought, chuckling quietly. She wasn't legitimately angry; she rarely, if ever, got angry. She could be abrasive and sarcastic at times, but she was not a mean person. "So what about you, Joey? What have you been playing?"

"Oh, I decided to pick up Geargia Karakuri in the past few weeks. I figure it'll get even better when Geargiagear is released in the new set," he replied.

"That another piece of information from your pal Kaiba?" Nat asked, raising an eyebrow. Joey just laughed.

"No, this one was actually announced a few weeks ago." Joey said.

"Come one, Nat, I thought I told you about this one?" Rena said, the exasperation obvious in her voice.

"Oh yea, sorry, I guess I forgot," she said with a laugh, her face turning a bit red. "I'm surprised neither of you are playing Fire Fist or Mermails, though." They shrugged. At this point, they, like Rena, had both earned their invitations to the National Championship for this year, and so they decided it wasn't too big of a deal to not play what were popularly thought to be the best decks at the time.

"We both have both Fire Fist and Mermail decks built, so if either ends up being the better choice for Nationals, then we'll probably use those," Joey said. Nat's jaw dropped.

"Seriously, dudes? I'm only just now about to finish my Fire Fists!" she yelled. They all laughed.

"Ah, the woes of the struggling duelist," Rena teased. Nat slapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, chill out! It's not like we don't still have an unopened box of Cosmo Blazer back at the apartment!"

"True," Nat conceded. They continued to talk about various things, mostly Duel Monsters, but occasionally some music and movies made it in to the conversation. Rena was ecstatic to find that both Yugi and Joey liked _Pitch Perfect_, which was currently her favorite movie. She was completely straight, but she may have developed a bit of a crush on Anna Kendrick after seeing that movie. The rest of dinner was filled with them quoting the movie. At one point, Rena had yelled "Aca-scuse me!?" at Joey, earning a number of strange looks from the surrounding patrons. She kept her comments at a more controlled volume after that. Noticing that everyone was finished with their food, Nat suggested heading home. She may or may not have been influenced by the excitement brought on by Rena's earlier comment about the box. The two girls exchanged phone numbers with the boys and headed back to their apartment.

"So that was cool," Nat spoke up as they walked. Rena just looked at her skeptically. "Oh, come on. You can't say it wasn't cool to eat dinner with Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler, two of the best duelists in the world! Plus, they like _Pitch Perfect_. Win, win."

"I've no intentions of letting them be the best this year," Rena stated with as much charisma as she could muster. It wasn't much, admittedly.

"Oh, confident, are we?" Nat replied, teasing the shorter girl. Rena let out a laugh. As confident as she may have been in her skills as a duelist, you really couldn't afford to be arrogant in that way, and she knew it.

"Nah, I'm sure they'll still be the best. I just really want to win Worlds this year," she said.

"Hey, I'm sure you've got this, dude," Nat said encouragingly. "You've still got months to prepare. I, on the other hand, actually need to worry. I still haven't earned my invite to Nationals this year!"

"Hey," Rena said, putting a hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "You've got time. There's the Domino Circuit next weekend, and several regional events after that. I believe in you, dude." Trying her hardest to be encouraging, she smiled at Nat. Looking back at Rena with a smile, Nat threw her arm around the brunette, pulling her into a half hug as they walked.

"Thanks, Rena," she said. Having arrived at their destination, Nat pulled out her key and unlocked the door to their apartment. Setting her bag down, she practically ran to the living room. "Box time!" she squealed. Rena chuckled at her friend's antics.

"All right then, Ms. Impatient," she said.

Nat wasted no time cutting the plastic wrapper off of the box still laying on the table as she sat down. They proceeded to open the twenty four booster packs contained within. As Rena opened the fifth pack, a Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King was revealed, and Nat jumped up in excitement. "Hell yes!" she yelled. "Now just a Bear and I'm done!" She tore through the rest of the packs without finding what she was looking for, her disappointment increasing a little more with each one. "Damn," she said as she opened the last one, revealing a lack of the final card she needed. It was also the most expensive at the time.

"I think you've got one left," Rena said with a smile as she handed the last pack to Nat. Her heart rate was through the roof as she opened the pack excruciatingly slow, not wanting to face the disappointment of not getting her final card. When she finished opening it, she sat frozen. She stared at the card. It was a Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear; exactly what she needed.

"It's so beautiful," she said softly. Rena could have sworn she saw the other girl tearing up.

"Do you two need some alone time or...?" Rena began.

"Oh, shut up. I'm gonna go get the rest of my stuff and put this together now," Nat shot back, as she bounded out of the living room to her room, returning with a messenger bag not unlike the one Rena carried. She pulled a binder out of the bag and began removing cards from it, smiling widely as she did so.

"So are you going to play the Dino Fist build?" Rena asked her.

"Yea, that seems to be the most consistent one. Plus, I mean, Laggia. What more is there to say?" she replied with a laugh. She was referring to Evolzar Laggia, one of the boss monsters of Dino Rabbit. The Dino Rabbit deck was still popular but not as effective as it used to be, having lost Sangan to the most recent Forbidden and Limited list, as well as one of the three copies of Tour Guide from the Underworld to the list before that. Dino Fist made use of Rescue Rabbit, the center piece of Dino Rabbit, along side Fire Fist cards. It was exceptionally consistent, fast, and powerful, all of which were necessary qualities in any competitive deck.

"I think you need to run two Abyss Dweller in this," said Rena. "Mono-Mermail is your biggest threat outside of the mirror, and there were multiple times today that the Fire Fist duelists I faced may have beaten me had they had a second Dweller." Abyss Dweller stops effects from activating in the opponent's graveyard, which is where most cards in the Mermail deck activate their effects. As such, it is one of the most popular counters to the deck.

"Yea, that makes sense," Nat said. "Though I'm a bit more worried about random Megalo-Diva OTK's." Rena chuckled at this. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, I just won the final round today with a turn 2 Megalo-Diva OTK against a Fire Fist duelist," Rena replied. "Honestly, unless you just open with it, like I did, any standard anti-Mermail side deck cards plus Dweller will be able to stop you. And you should probably main some combination of Maxx "C" and Effect Veiler, because they'll help stop the random OTK's, in addition to being good against both Fire and Water. Oh and don't forget you need outs to Mermail Abyssgaios."

"What would I do without you?" Nat said. Rena shrugged, not being particularly adept at accepting compliments. "Seriously, you are amazing." Rena smiled back at Nat. She always tried to help the taller girl, because she hated seeing her best friend lose. Unless it was to her, of course. And it wasn't that Nat was bad; in fact, she was better than most Duelists. It just so happened that Rena was better, and she lent her knowledge to Nat at any opportunity. The relationship between the two girls was not unlike that of Yugi and Joey. They were best friends, through and through, and they would always be there to help the other out, whether it was in Duel Monsters or life in general.

They continued to talk strategy while they finished building Nat's deck. Finally, once she was confident in all of her card choices, at least for the main and extra deck, she pulled out a pack of pink sleeves. Both girls always protected their cards with pink sleeves. It wasn't so much because they particularly cared for the color pink; Rena's favorite color was black and Nat's was blue. It was simply a tradition they had started as young girls and it never really went away.

"Hey, let me help you with that, it'll go faster," said Rena, reaching to take some sleeves from the pile Nat had placed on the table. "Then we can watch a movie before we go to bed!" Nat just giggled. She found it rather amusing how much the brunette loved movies. It closely rivaled her passion for Duel Monsters.

"So what are we watching tonight?" she asked. Rena grinned.

"Scott Pilgrim!" she yelled. It was another of her favorites. Plus, she would get to see more of Anna Kendrick. As Nat finished putting her deck in the protective sleeves, Rena moved to put the movie in. She sat back down on the couch as it began, and Nat moved to lay her head on Rena's lap. Nat's attention span dropped considerably when it came to movies, and she usually was asleep by the end of them. As such, she usually ended up in this position anyway, so Rena had long learned to go ahead and let her do it. It so happened that Rena was incredibly tired at this point as well, and, considering she had seen this movie countless times, she began to feel sleep creeping up on her before the movie was half over. All around, it had been a successful day, and she smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

**Chapter 1 Card Database:**

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Dragon – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 1800 / DEF: 400 – Once per turn, if you activate a "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card (except during the Damage Step): You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Trap Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can send 2 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Cards you control to the Graveyard to target 1 "Fire Fist" monster in your Graveyard, except "Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Dragon"; Special Summon that target.

Fire Formation – Tenki – Continuous Spell – When this card is activated: You can add 1 Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. All Beast-Warrior-Type monsters you control gain 100 ATK. You can only activate 1 "Fire Formation - Tenki" per turn.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 1200 – Once per turn, when this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can send 1 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card you control to the Graveyard to target 1 monster on the field; destroy that target.

Fire Formation – Tensen – Continuous Trap – When this card is activated: Target 1 Beast-Warrior-Type monster you control; it gains 700 ATK until the End Phase. (This ATK gain remains even if this card leaves the field.) All Beast-Warrior-Type monsters you control gain 300 ATK.

Soul Drain – Continuous Trap – Activate by paying 1000 Life Points. Monsters that are banished, as well as monsters in the Graveyard, cannot activate their effects (that start a Chain).

Mermail Abyssmegalo – Effect Monster / Level 7 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 1900 – You can discard 2 other WATER monsters to the Graveyard, Special Summon this card from your hand. When you do: You can add 1 "Abyss-" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. You can Tribute 1 other face-up Attack Position WATER monster; this card can make a second attack during each Battle Phase this turn.

Atlantean Marksman – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 0 – When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Atlantean" Sea Serpent-Type monster from your Deck, except "Atlantean Marksman". When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Target 1 Set card your opponent controls; destroy that target.

Atlantean Heavy Infantry – Effect Monster / Level 2 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 0 / DEF: 1600 – During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Sea Serpent-Type monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy that target.

Bottomless Trap Hole – Trap – Activate only when your opponent Summons a monster(s) with 1500 or more ATK. Destroy and remove from play the monster(s).

Abyss-sphere – Continuous Trap – Special Summon 1 "Mermail" monster from your Deck. Its effects are negated. You cannot activate any Spell Cards. When this card leaves the field, destroy that monster. Destroy this card during your opponent's next End Phase after activation.

Deep Sea Diva – Effect Monster / Tuner / Level 2 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 200 / DEF: 400 – When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower Sea Serpent-Type monster from your Deck.

Atlantean Dragoons – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 1800 / DF: 0 – All Level 3 or lower Sea Serpent-Type monsters you control can attack your opponent directly. When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Add 1 Sea Serpent-Type monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Atlantean Dragoons".

Dark Hole – Spell – Destroy all monsters on the field.

Heavy Storm – Spell – Destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.

Book of Moon – Quick-Play Spell – Target 1 face-up monster on the field; change that target to face-down Defense Position.

Spellbook of Fate – Quick-Play Spell – If you control a Spellcaster-Type monster: You can banish up to 3 "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Graveyard; apply this effect, depending on the number of Spell Cards banished for this card's activation. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Fate" per turn.

1: Return 1 Set Spell/Trap Card on the field to the hand.

2: Change 1 monster on the field to face-down Defense Position or face-up Attack Position.

3: Banish 1 card your opponent controls.

High Priestess of Prophecy – Effect Monster / Level 7 / Light / Spellcaster / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2100 – You can reveal 3 "Spellbook" Spell Cards in your hand; Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn: You can banish 1 "Spellbook" Spell Card from your hand or Graveyard to target 1 card on the field; destroy that target.

Geargiagear – Trap – Special Summon 2 "Geargiano" monster from your Deck and increase their Levels by 1. You can only activate 1 "Geargiagear" per turn.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 1800 / 2 Level 4 Beast-Warrior-Type monsters – When this card is Xyz Summoned: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the effects of all face-up Effect Monster currently on the field, except Beast-Warrior-Type, until the end of your opponent's turn. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can send 3 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Cards you control to the Graveyard; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior-Type monsters with the same ATK from your Deck, in face-up Defense Position.

Evolzar Laggia – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Fire / Dragon / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 2000 / 2 Level 4 Dinosaur-Type monsters – When a monster(s) would be Normal or Special Summoned, OR a Spell/Trap Card is activated: You can detach 2 Xyz Materials from this card; negate the Summon or activation, and destroy that card.

Sangan – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Dark / Fiend / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 600 – When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.

Tour Guide from the Underworld – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Dark / Fiend / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 600 – When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 3 Fiend-Type monster from your hand or Deck. Its effects are negated, and it cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster.

Rescue Rabbit – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Beast / ATK: 300 / DEF: 100 – This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. You can banish this face-up card you control; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Destroy them during the End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be activated once per turn.

Maxx "C" – Effect Monster / Level 2 / Earth / Insect / ATK: 500 / DEF: 200 – You can activate this effect during either player's turn by sending this card from your hand to the Graveyard. This turn, each time your opponent Special Summon a monster(s), draw 1 card. You can only activate "Maxx "C"" once per turn.

Effect Veiler – Effect Monster / Tuner / Level 1 / Light / Spellcaster / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 – During your opponent's Main Phase, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to select 1 face-up Effect Monster your opponent controls. Negate the effect(s) of that monster until the End Phase.

Mermail Abyssgaios – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 7 / Water / Aqua / ATK: 2800 / DEF: 1600 / 2 Level 7 WATER monsters – While this face-up card has Xyz Material, Level 5 or higher monsters cannot attack. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the effects of all face-up monsters your opponent currently controls that have less ATK than this card, until the end of the turn.

**Chapter Glossary:**

back row – Spell and trap zones, not including the field spell zone.

Cosmo Blazer – A booster pack in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, released in early 2013. First set featuring the Fire Fist archetype, as well as new support for the Mermail, Prophecy, and Noble Knight archetypes.

Dino Rabbit – A deck debuting with the release of the cards Rescue Rabbit and Tour Guide from the Underworld. It focused on using Rescue Rabbit to summon Kabazauls and Sabersaurus from the deck to rapidly and efficiently Xyz summon Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka. Tour Guide facilitated this as a follow up play to Xyz summon Leviair the Sea Dragon, who would Special Summon the previously banished Rescue Rabbit so that it could be re-used. It also could summon Sangan from the deck, who would then be allowed to be destroyed to add Rescue Rabbit to the player's hand. The deck also made use of Jurrac Guiaba and Forbidden Lance to increase the methods of summoning Evolzars, as well as a high number of traps. As the Mermail deck became popular, many Dino Rabbit decks began using Macro Cosmos in the main deck, due to its crippling effect on Mermails and other popular decks like Dark World. This led to a variant commonly known as Macro Rabbit.

Dino Fist – One of the first variants of the Fire Fist deck, it was essentially a combination of Dino Rabbit and Fire Fist. It used Sabersaurus as one set of normals to summon Evolzars and Gene Warped Warwolf to summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King. It was incredibly consistent due to Fire Formation – Tenki allowing easy access to any Fire Fist card, as well as Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear providing easy removal of opposing threats.

Fire Fist – An archetype of Beast-Warriors debuting in Cosmo Blazer. Most Fire Fist monsters focused on using Fire Formation spell and trap cards to destroy the opponent's monsters or back row, special summon other monsters, search for other Fire Fist monsters or Fire Formation spells and traps, and boost the attack of Beast-Warriors. The archetype would continue to received support in the next two sets.

Forbidden – A card given the status of Forbidden is banned from advanced format games, which is the standard for tournaments.

Forbidden and Limited List – Every few months, originally 6, but now roughly 3 or 4, a new list of cards that cannot be used or can only be used in multiples of 1 or 2 is released, serving to balance over-powered cards, allow new decks the opportunity to thrive, or potentially boost older decks.

Geargia Karakuri – A deck that focused on using two archetypes of machine monsters, Geargias and Karakuris, to quickly summon multiple high level synchro monsters and OTK.

Hand traps – Effect monsters whose effects can be activated from the hand either as a quick effect or a response to an opponent's action. They are popular for their ability to allow defense from the player who goes second on the opponent's first turn. Common hand traps include: Maxx "C," Effect Veiler, Swift Scarecrow, Battle Fader, Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and Tragoedia.

"Laggia-Set 4" - This phrase is a common way of saying that a player's opening turn consisted of summoning a Rescue Rabbit, using it's effect to summon 2 Kabazauls or Sabersaurus, Xyz Summoning Evolzar Laggia, and setting four spells and traps. It was quite a difficult field to dismantle.

"Magician-Shark" – Referring to Wind-Up Magician and Wind-Up Shark, these two cards essentially allowed a Wind-Up player to almost guarantee a win, at first by using Wind-Up Hunter to remove all cards from the opponent's hand, and later by creating a loop to summon Number 16: Shock Master on the first turn, resulting in the opponent having no response to an OTK on the following turn.

Limited – A card given the status of Limited cannot be used at more than one copy in a player's deck.

"Megalo-Diva OTK" – An OTK that was common for Mermail players to perform, as it only required a Mermail Abyssmegalo and Deep Diva in hand along with two other water monsters to facilitate Abyssmegalo's summon. Considering the high monster count of Mermail decks, this was rarely an issue. The main character, Rena, used a Megalo-Diva OTK on her opponent in the beginning of this chapter.

Mono-Mermail – A variant of the Mermail deck the debuted after the release of Mermail Abyssteus in Cosmo Blazer. It was named "Mono-Mermail" because it left out the Genex Undine and Genex Controller that were used in earlier builds, and was "only Mermails." This was a bit of a misnomer, as it still used Atlantean monsters. It was incredibly fast and efficient at summoning Rank 7 Xyz monsters, originally Mermail Abyssgaios and Number 11: Big Eye, as well as having easy methods of removal for monsters and back row.

Opened – Refers to the hand with which a player starts, or their field at the end of their first turn.

OTK – One turn kill.

Out – Refers to a solution or answer to an opponent's card. For example, Dark Hole would be an out to Mermail Abyssgaios.

play mat – Most competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! Players use mats made of mouse pad like material to place their cards on when playing.

"Rabbit-Tour Guide" – Like "Magician-Shark," these two cards virtually guaranteed a player a win assuming they went first. The play is described earlier in the Dino Rabbit definition.

Sacked – A term used to describe "cheap" or "lucky" wins/losses. For example, if a player lost to "Magician-Shark," most would say they were sacked.

Spellbooks – An archetype of spell cards closely related to the Prophecy archetype of spellcaster monsters. Originally focused on cycling through Spellbook spells to fuel both Spellbook of Fate and the effect of High Priestess of Prophecy.

Scoop – Refers to forfeiting a game. The word comes from the action of "scooping" up your pile of cards as you either begin to side deck and shuffle for the next game, or de-side for the next match.

Semi-Limited – A card given the status of Semi-Limited can be used at no more than two copies in a player's deck.

side deck – 15 extra cards outside of the main deck. These cards could be swapped with other cards in the main or extra deck between games of a match. Side decks are built either to counter popular decks or to protect against cards that would be sided against one's deck.

Tops – A top is essentially a win or high placement at a tournament. For example, if you were in the top 16 of a 200+ person tournament, you would say you topped that tournament.

Unlimited – Any card that is not on the Forbidden and Limited list is considered Unlimited, and as such, may be used at up to three copies in a player's deck.

Wind-Ups – A multi-atrribute, multi-type archetpye based on the idea of Wind-Up toys. The deck was mostly focused on quickly making consistent and powerful Xyz summons, and had multiple loops of summons it could perform to lock the opponent out of the game. Its boss monster, Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, was limited to 1 in the September 2012 F&L List, and Wind-Up Magician was limited to 1 in March of 2013. This left the deck playable, but no longer able to truly compete with higher tier decks at the time.

**March 1st, 2013 - September 1st, 2013 Forbidden and Limited** **List:**

**_Forbidden:_**

Monsters:

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier 「氷ひょう結けっ界かいの龍りゅう ブリューナク」  
Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End 「混沌帝龍カオス・エンペラー・ドラゴン －終しゅう焉えんの使し者しゃ－」  
Cyber-Stein 「デビル・フランケン」  
Cyber Jar 「サイバーポッド」  
Dark Magician of Chaos 「混沌の黒魔術師」  
Dark Strike Fighter 「ダーク・ダイブ・ボンバー」  
Destiny HERO - Disk Commander 「Ｄ－ＨＥＲＯデステニーヒーロー ディスクガイ」  
Fiber Jar 「ファイバーポッド」  
Fishborg Blaster 「フィッシュボーグ－ガンナー」  
Glow-Up Bulb 「グローアップ・バルブ」  
Goyo Guardian 「ゴヨウ・ガーディアン」  
Magical Scientist 「魔ま導どうサイエンティスト」  
Magician of Faith 「聖なる魔術師セイント・マジシャン」  
Makyura the Destructor 「処しょ刑けい人にん－マキュラ」  
Mind Master 「メンタルマスター」  
Rescue Cat 「レスキューキャット」  
Sangan 「クリッター」 (From Limited)  
Sinister Serpent 「キラー・スネーク」  
Substitoad 「イレカエル」  
Thousand-Eyes Restrict 「サウザンド・アイズ・サクリファイス」  
Tribe-Infecting Virus 「同どう族ぞく感かん染せんウィルス」  
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier 「氷ひょう結けっ界かいの龍りゅう トリシューラ」  
Victory Dragon 「ヴィクトリー・ドラゴン」  
Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity 「発ぜん条まい空くう母ぼゼンマイティ」 (From Limited)  
Witch of the Black Forest 「黒くろき森もりのウィッチ」  
Yata-Garasu 「八汰烏ヤタガラス」

Spells:

Brain Control 「洗せん脳のう－ブレインコントロール」  
Butterfly Dagger - Elma 「」  
Card of Safe Return 「生せい還かんの宝ほう札さつ」  
Change of Heart 「心こころ変がわり」  
Cold Wave 「大だい寒かん波ぱ」  
Confiscation 「押おう収しゅう」  
Delinquent Duo 「いたずら好ずきな双ふた子ご悪あく魔ま」  
Dimension Fusion 「次じ元げん融ゆう合ごう」  
Future Fusion 「未み来らい融ゆう合ごう－フューチャー・フュージョン」  
Giant Trunade 「ハリケーン」  
Graceful Charity 「天てん使しの施ほどこし」  
Harpie's Feather Duster 「ハーピィの羽は根ね帚ぼうき」  
Last Will 「遺ゆい言ごん状じょう」  
Mass Driver 「マスドライバー」  
Metamorphosis 「突然変異メタモルフォーゼ」  
Mirage of Nightmare 「悪あく夢むの蜃しん気き楼ろう」  
Painful Choice 「苦く渋じゅうの選せん択たく」  
Pot of Greed 「強ごう欲よくな壺つぼ」  
Premature Burial 「早はやすぎた埋まい葬そう」  
Raigeki 「サンダー・ボルト」  
Snatch Steal 「強ごう奪だつ」  
Temple of the Kings 「王おう家けの神しん殿でん」  
The Forceful Sentry 「強ごう引いんな番ばん兵へい」

Traps:

Crush Card Virus 「死しのデッキ破は壊かいウイルス」  
Exchange of the Spirit 「現げん世せと冥めい界かいの逆ぎゃく転てん」  
Imperial Order 「王おう宮きゅうの勅ちょく命めい」  
Last Turn 「ラストバトル！」  
Ring of Destruction 「破は壊かい輪りん」  
Royal Oppression 「王おう宮きゅうの彈だん壓あつ」  
Time Seal 「刻ときの封ふう印いん」  
Trap Dustshoot 「ダスト・シュート」

_**Limited:**_

Monsters:

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning 「カオス・ソルジャー －開かい闢びゃくの使し者しゃ－」  
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind 「ＢＦブラックフェザー－疾しっ風ぷうのゲイル」  
Chaos Sorcerer 「カオス・ソーサラー」  
Dark Armed Dragon 「ダーク・アームド・ドラゴン」  
Dandylion 「ダンディライオン」  
Elemental HERO Stratos 「Ｅ・ＨＥＲＯエレメンタルヒーロー エアーマン」  
Evigishki Gustkraken 「イビリチュア・ガストクラーケ」  
Exodia the Forbidden One 「封ふう印いんされしエクゾディア」  
Formula Synchron 「フォーミュラ・シンクロン」  
Gladiator Beast Bestiari 「剣闘獣グラディアルビーストベストロウリィ」  
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness 「冥めい府ふの使し者しゃゴーズ」  
Honest 「オネスト」  
Inzektor Dragonfly 「甲虫装機インゼクター ダンセル」  
Inzektor Hornet 「甲虫装機インゼクター ホーネット」  
Left Arm of the Forbidden One 「封ふう印いんされし者ものの左ひだり腕うで」  
Left Leg of the Forbidden One 「封ふう印いんされし者ものの左ひだり足あし」  
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En 「真しん六ろく武ぶ衆しゅう－シエン」  
Lonefire Blossom 「ローンファイア・ブロッサム」  
Mezuki 「馬め頭ず鬼き」  
Morphing Jar 「メタモルポット」  
Necroface 「ネクロフェイス」  
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole 「Ｎネオスペーシアン・グラン・モール」  
Night Assailant 「深淵の暗殺者ナイト・アサシン」  
Plaguespreader Zombie 「ゾンビキャリア」  
Right Arm of the Forbidden One 「封ふう印いんされし者ものの右みぎ腕うで」  
Right Leg of the Forbidden One 「」  
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon 「レッドアイズ・ダークネスメタルドラゴン」  
T.G. Hyper Librarian 「ＴＧテックジーナス ハイパー・ライブラリアン」  
T.G. Striker 「ＴＧテックジーナス ストライカー」  
Wind-Up Magician 「ゼンマイマジシャン」 (From Unlimited)

Spells:

Allure of Darkness 「闇やみの誘ゆう惑わく」  
Black Whirlwind 「黒くろい旋せん風ぷう」  
Book of Moon 「月つきの書しょ」  
Burial from a Different Dimension 「異い次じ元げんからの埋まい葬そう」  
Card Destruction 「手て札ふだ抹まっ殺さつ」  
Charge of the Light Brigade 「光ひかりの援えん軍ぐん」  
Dark Hole 「ブラック・ホール」  
Foolish Burial 「おろかな埋まい葬そう」  
Gateway of the Six 「六ろく武ぶの門もん」  
Heavy Storm 「大おお嵐あらし」  
Infernity Launcher 「インフェルニティガン」  
Limiter Removal 「リミッター解かい除じょ」  
Mind Control 「精せい神しん操そう作さ」  
Monster Gate 「モンスターゲート」  
Monster Reborn 「死し者しゃ蘇そ生せい」  
One Day of Peace 「一いち時じ休きゅう戦せん」 (From Unlimited)  
One for One 「ワン・フォー・ワン」  
Pot of Avarice 「貪どん欲よくな壺つぼ」  
Primal Seed 「原げん初しょの種たね」  
Reinforcement of the Army 「増ぞう援えん」  
Scapegoat 「スケープ・ゴート」

Traps:

Ceasefire 「停てい戦せん協きょう定てい」  
Magical Explosion 「マジカル・エクスプロージョン」  
Return from the Different Dimension 「異い次じ元げんからの帰き還かん」  
Solemn Judgment 「神かみの宣せん告こく」  
Solemn Warning 「神かみの警けい告こく」 (From Semi-Limited)  
The Transmigration Prophecy 「転てん生せいの予よ言げん」  
Ultimate Offering 「血ちの代だい償しょう」  
Wall of Revealing Light 「光ひかりの護ご封ふう壁へき」

**_Semi-Limited:_**

Monsters:

Archlord Kristya 「大だい天てん使しクリスティア」  
Card Trooper 「カード・ガンナー」  
Debris Dragon 「デブリ・ドラゴン」  
Destiny HERO - Malicious 「Ｄ－ＨＥＲＯデステニーヒーロー ディアボリックガイ」  
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier 「氷ひょう結けっ界かいの虎こ王おうドゥローレン」  
Reborn Tengu 「輪りん廻ね天てん狗ぐ」  
Rescue Rabbit 「レスキューラビット」  
Summoner Monk 「召しょう喚かん僧そうサモンプリースト」  
The Agent of Mystery - Earth 「神しん秘ぴの代だい行こう者しゃ アース」  
Thunder King Rai-Oh 「ライオウ」 (From Unlimited)  
Tour Guide From the Underworld 「魔ま界かい発はつ現げん世せ行ゆきデスガイド」  
Tragoedia 「トラゴエディア」  
Tsukuyomi 「月読命ツクヨミ」 (From Limited)

Spells:

A Hero Lives 「ヒーローアライブ」  
Advanced Ritual Art 「Advanced Ritual Art」 (From Limited)  
Chain Strike 「連鎖爆撃チェーン・ストライク」  
E - Emergency Call 「Ｅイー－エマージェンシーコール」  
Hieratic Seal of Convocation「召しょう集しゅうの聖せい刻こく印いん」  
Magical Stone Excavation 「魔ま法ほう石せきの採さい掘くつ」  
Pot of Duality 「強ごう欲よくで謙けん虚きょな壺つぼ」  
Reasoning 「名めい推すい理り」  
Royal Tribute 「王おう家けの生いけ贄にえ」

Traps:

Bottomless Trap Hole 「奈な落らくの落おとし穴あな」  
Mirror Force 「聖せいなるバリア－ミラーフォース－」  
Ojama Trio 「おジャマトリオ」  
Torrential Tribute 「激げき流りゅう葬そう」

_**Newly Unlimited:**_

Monsters:

Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow 「ＢＦブラックフェザー－月げつ影えいのカルート」 (From Semi-Limited)  
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner 「ライトロード・サモナー ルミナス」 (From Semi-Limited)  
Spore 「スポーア」 (From Limited)

Spells:

Shien's Smoke Signal 「紫シ炎エンの狼煙のろし」 (From Semi-Limited)

Traps:

Mind Crush 「マインドクラッシュ」 (From Semi-Limited)


	2. Chapter 2

_**To Be the Queen of Games**_

**Chapter 2:**

_April 7th, 2013_

The window of the apartment cast sunlight one Rena's face as she slept on the couch. She woke with a groan. Sitting upright all night had not been kind to her neck. As she moved to get up off of the couch, she felt a weight in her lap.

"_Oh, right_," she thought, looking down at Nat's head still laying peacefully on her lap. She lifted the girl's head up as gently as possible and slid out from under her. Rena walked to Nat's bedroom, retrieving a pillow and a blanket, before returning to the couch. She lifted Nat's head, again taking utmost care not to wake her, and slid the pillow under her. After she placed the blanket on top of the taller girl, she walked to her own room and collapsed on to the bed, giving her clock a quick glance as she landed. 7:18, it read. Much too early to be up on a Sunday, Rena figured, falling back to sleep.

It wasn't two hours before she was once again woken, though this time, it was by her phone. Pulling it out of her pocket, she was greeted by Yugi's name flashing across the screen.

"Seriously?" she whined to herself. "How is that kid awake now? Doesn't he know it's a weekend?" Still, it wasn't every day most duelists got a call from Yugi, and, considering she didn't want her new friend to think she was a jerk, she decided to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey, Rena!" Yugi said through the phone, quite loudly, Rena had to admit. She was not a morning person by any means, and she never really understood how people could be so cheery this early. "What are you up to?"

"Well I was sleeping, but I guess that's not happening now," she said quietly. Her statement had a bit more annoyance to it than she meant to express, but morning conversation was really not her thing. She sighed, praying that she wasn't coming off as a total ass.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I could call back later," he replied sheepishly.

"No, dude, it's fine," she said with a small laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm just not much of a morning person. So what can I do for the King of Games today?" It wasn't a second after Rena said those three words that Yugi grimaced; he really did not care for that nickname, though Rena had no way of knowing this. However, seeing as they didn't really become friends until the previous night, he wasn't about to address that.

"Oh, well, my grandpa's store is having a tournament this afternoon, and we're a bit short staffed on judges. Joey isn't really good at judging, he's impatient and gets into too many arguments with players." Rena chuckled. The image of Joey arguing down a player was too funny in her mind. "My other friends are out of town, so I can't really ask them for help. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to help?" he said. Rena thought for a moment. She had a bit of homework she needed to complete before tomorrow, but she figured she could do it later. Being a Sunday tournament, it probably wouldn't last too terribly long, she hoped.

"Sure, dude, I'd be happy to," she replied. She didn't often judge, usually preferring to play, but she wasn't one to turn down the opportunity if she didn't already have plans to play. "When and where do I need to show up?"

"If you could be at Kame Game around noon, that would awesome. The tournament starts at one o'clock, and they usually last until around six or seven, give or take depending on attendance," Yugi informed her.

"Ok, I'll be there. Nat may show up to play as well, considering she just finished her Fire Fists," Rena said.

"All right, cool!" Yugi responded enthusiastically. "I'll see you guys there!" Rena smiled and hung up the phone. It would be a nice change for her to not sit around the apartment being lazy and watching movies, as was typical of Sunday nights for her. She rolled over and began staring at the ceiling, still not quite ready to get out of bed. However, after realizing she wouldn't be getting any more sleep, she grudgingly got out of bed.

"_I may as well go for a run_," she thought as she began to strip out of the jeans and tank top she had been wearing since yesterday. After donning her running clothes and pulling her hair into a tight ponytail, she walked out of her room. She looked at Nat again as she opened the door, and she felt a small bit of jealousy rising in the pit of her stomach; partially from the fact that she was still sleeping comfortably, and also because the girl never seemed to have to exercise much to stay in shape, while Rena had to work her ass off. Thus, the run. "_Infuriating_..." she once again mused as she left the apartment. As much as Rena claimed to hate exercise, running always seemed to put her at ease. Perhaps because, unlike dueling, it was completely mindless. It allowed her to rest her mind, as well as work out any stress she may have been feeling. She had long since made it a point to never think about Duel Monsters while running. Her usual path involved running a few blocks into the city, making her way to a park she used to frequent as a child, before turning around and heading back to her apartment. As she passed beneath the trees, she smiled. She was, truly, a sucker for nostalgia. She ended up running for about an hour, returning to her apartment after completing the five mile journey. It was about 10:30 when she walked into the apartment and noticed that Nat was cooking breakfast.

"A little late for that, don't you think," Rena teased. Nat simply rolled her eyes.

"And it isn't early enough for lunch. Besides, when did McDonald's become the supreme authority of when breakfast should end?" She retorted.

"Touche," was all Rena could respond with. She was still breathing heavily and was covered in sweat. Even in the mornings, it was rather hot in Domino City. Nat set a glass of iced tea on the counter as Rena sat down. "You know me too well."

"True. Maybe I need to move out before you fall in love with me," Nat joked.

"Oh please, you always cook me food and have iced tea ready for me after my runs. I'm already smitten," Rena replied placing her hand over her heart as if to swoon. Nat laughed rather hard at this.

"Yea, yea, whatever weirdo," she said as she handed Rena a plate of eggs and bacon, which was promptly devoured by the shorter girl. When she had finished eating, she spoke up again.

"So I got a call from Yugi this morning," she said. Nat raised her eyebrows at her.

"Oh really?" she replied with a hint of skepticism. "And what did the King of Games want, pray tell?"

"He asked me to help judge a tournament at his grandpa's shop today. Apparently their usual judges are otherwise indisposed." she responded, ignoring her friend's tone. At hearing of the prospect of a tournament, Nat's features immediately lit up.

"Awesome! I can use my new deck today! I wasn't looking forward to having to wait until this weekend to play it," she said enthusiastically, bouncing a little with excitement. Rena chuckled at her friend. Having finished her food, she stood up, placing her dishes in the sink as she began to leave the room.

"I'm going to go jump in the shower. The tournament starts at 1:00, and I have to be there at 12:00," she said with a bit of urgency. They had a little over an hour to get there, so she wasn't overly concerned, but she was often paranoid of being late. Admittedly, it wasn't a bad habit, but it at times caused a little more stress than was truly necessary.

"Ok, I'll be ready," replied Nat. Rena wasted no time with her shower. In less than twenty minutes, she was out, dry, and dressed in the standard judge attire. There was no technical uniform for Duel Monsters Judges, only the stipulation that they wear some type of black slacks, a black shirt, and black shoes. Official Judge shirts did exist, and they were issued by Industrial Illusions to everyone who judged at any company sponsored tournaments. Rena, as it happened, was wearing one such shirt. It was black, as expected, with white flourishes on the sleeves where they connected to the shoulders. The words "Industrial Illusions Judge" were printed in simple, white letters on the left breast. Her particular shirt had been earned when she had judged at the Domino City Circuit in 2010, before she had made a name for herself in the competitive community. She wore minimal make up, having toned down the heavy eyeliner she usually sported, and her hair was in a neat bun. All in all, she looked rather professional.

"Damn girl," Nat commented as she viewed Rena from her seat at the couch, where she had been waiting. "It's just a store tournament, not a Circuit Series." Rena chuckled.

"Well, it never hurts to look official for this sort of thing, especially since I'll be the new girl," she replied.

"Fair enough," Nat responded, vacating her seat on the couch and picking up the black messenger bag which contained her deck box, play mat, and trade binder. "Ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Rena said.

"Then lead the way, Miss Judge Lady," Nat joked, giving a slight bow as she gestured towards the door. Rena rolled her eyes as they walked out of the apartment. Knowing it was only about a fifteen minute walk to Yugi's Grandpa's store, which Nat located on the internet while Rena showered, they walked at a relaxed place. "You know, I never knew the owner of Kame Game was Yugi's grandpa. You'd think that's the sort of thing we'd catch on to." Rena thought for a moment before speaking up.

"True, but perhaps Yugi didn't advertise it because he didn't really care to have the place swarmed by people who were simply there to challenge him. I imagine that's why he judges the tournaments instead of playing as well," she said.

"Makes sense," Nat replied. After a few minutes of walking silently, Rena spoke up again.

"By the way, I was thinking, are you siding any Swift Scarecrows? You might want to have something to draw into for protection if Joey or another Geargia duelist decides to take the Maxx "C" challenge," she said. "Plus, you might even see some Hieratics there as well." The thought had occurred to her in the shower, as she remember that Joey would potentially be playing at this tournament.

"Is Joey going to be playing?" Nat inquired.

"I don't know, but it's possible. Apparently he isn't exactly the judging type. Yugi said he's impatient with duelists and gets into arguments with them as a judge. Understandably so. Some duelists are just awful to deal with," Rena said with a sigh. Nat just laughed.

"I can totally see him doing that," she said. "As for the Swift Scarecrows, no I do not have any sided. But come one, have some faith in me dude! I'm not completely helpless without you." She winked at Rena as she finished. Rena smiled back at the taller girl, but internally wished she would take her advice.

"All I'm saying is, if he goes in for an OTK, he's going to make a Stardust Dragon, and all of the cards in your hand won't mean a thing at that point, no matter how many you draw off a 'C,'" she said.

"Well, I have plenty of protection to keep it from getting to that point," Nat responded. It was beginning to frustrate Rena that Nat wasn't taking her advice more seriously, so she decided to just let it go. It wasn't that Nat found any flaws in her logic, and she appreciated the help; she just wanted Rena to know she could be successful making her own decisions. It was about that time when they arrived at the store. It was a large building, but part of it was dedicated to living space, so they would not have as much room as one might have thought. Still, there were quite a few duelists already in the shop, playing fun games before the tournament, as well as making trades for cards they needed.

"Hey, see if you can pick up any extra Breakthrough Skills. I don't know how we only have the two copies you're using today," Rena told Nat as she began to look around the store. "I'm going to go find Yugi."

"Yes ma'am," Nat replied with a mock salute. Rena stuck her tongue out at her friend as she walked through the store. She looked around, wondering how she was having so much trouble finding a guy who stuck out as much as Yugi did with that crazy hair of his. After another half of a minute or so of searching she finally located him at a table in the back. He was sitting across from a boy no older than ten years. As she drew closer, she realized they weren't actually dueling. Several cards were laid across the table of different kinds, with no organization like that of the usual field. She smiled at the scene before her.

"These white cards are called Synchro monsters," Yugi explained to the boy sitting across from him, who was viewing all of the cards in front of him with wide eyes. "They are kept in the extra deck. If you want to summon one, you have to have the correct Synchro material monsters on your side of the field. For example, this one, Black Rose Dragon, requires one tuner and one or more non-tuner monsters. Tuner monsters are monsters like these." He pointed at a Debris Dragon that was next to the Black Rose Dragon. "You know it's a tuner because it says so on the card. The levels of the monsters must add up to the total level of the Synchro, for example, a level four tuner and a level three non-tuner could be used to summon Black Rose, because it is level seven. Synchros usually have a lot of powerful effects. Take Black Rose, for instance; when you summon it, it will destroy every card on the field." The boys eyes got even wider, which Rena had not thought possible.

"But why would would want to destroy your own cards, Mister Yugi?" he said. Yugi smiled.

"Well, if you are summoning Black Rose, you should be doing it when it will hurt your opponent more than you, and there are easy ways to summon it, like with Debris Dragon. It can special summon a monster from the graveyard when it is normal summoned. So, you would special summon a level three monster, like Card Trooper, then send the Synchro materials to the grave to Synchro summon your Black Rose Dragon!" he said.

"Wow! That's awesome!" the boy said. "Can we play a game now?"

"Not just yet," Yugi said with a laugh. "I've got one more card type to explain to you. These black cards are called Xyz monsters." He picked up a Number 39: Utopia and handed it to the boy. "Summoning them is pretty similar to Synchros. They are also kept in the extra deck. To summon one, you have to have the appropriate monsters on your side of the field. In this case, Utopia needs two level four monsters. The levels of the materials used always match the Rank of the Xyz Monster. They can be any level four monsters, as Utopia has no restrictions on what is used. To summon it, instead of sending the cards to the graveyard, you stack them on top of each other like this." Yugi demonstrated, placing the Debris Dragon on top of an Elemental HERO Stratos that was also on the table. "Then, you place the Xyz monster on top of the stack. The two monsters become 'Xyz Materials.' You usually activate the Xyz monster's effect by detaching a material and sending it to the graveyard."

"Dang," the boy said after Yugi finished his explanation. "There's a lot of rules to remember in this game."

"There sure are, but with practice, anyone can get it," Yugi replied encouragingly.

"Awesome! Can we play a game now?" he asked with excitement. Rena chuckled, and Yugi finally noticed her presence.

"Hey! Glad you made it," he said to her with a smile. "Let me play a quick game with Brandon here, then we'll talk about the tournament." The boy was bouncing in his chair with excitement by now.

"Oh, don't mind me," Rena replied quickly. "Take your time. Besides, I can give your friend here some tips to make sure he beats you." Brandon looked at the girl, and he was again struck with awe as he realized who she was.

"Rena Bishop? Wow! There are so many famous duelists here!" he said enthusiastically. Rena laughed at this. "I watched your game against Yugi last year at Worlds." He held his hand up between his face and Yugi and began to whisper, leaning closer to Rena. "Don't tell him, but I was rooting for you." Despite his attempts at concealing his statement, Yugi was able to hear the boy's words quite clearly, and he laughed along with Rena.

"Well thanks, buddy," she replied, ruffling his hair a bit as he smiled back up at her. "Now come on, let's beat this scrub." She sat down in the chair next to Brandon.

"A scrub? Rena, I'm hurt," Yugi teased. "Besides, should you really be teaching such language to a young, impressionable mind?"

"Oh please, most people wouldn't even be able to tell that there's an age difference between you two," she retorted. Brandon laughed furiously as Yugi's face began to turn red. He smiled though, knowing she was just messing with him. It wasn't like he didn't get plenty of short jokes from Joey, so he was fairly used to it. After Rena and Yugi shuffled the two decks, Brandon and Yugi began to play, with Brandon going first. Rena looked at his hand and didn't say anything on the first turn, as he he made a fairly safe play. As the duel progressed, she would occasionally give tips to Brandon about how to handle certain situations, what order to use his traps in, or give him insight as to what Yugi's set cards may be. In the end, Brandon came out on top, though Rena figured Yugi may have held back a bit, considering his opponent had little actual experience. Also, Yugi had been playing HEROes, while the child was playing Dark Worlds, which have an easy win condition against HEROes in the form of Eradicator Epidemic Virus, a truly devastating trap card. Brandon was so excited after his win, even if it came with Rena's help.

"Thanks, Miss Rena!" he said and ran off to tell his friends all about his duel. Rena and Yugi smiled as he left. Yugi then placed both decks into their respective deck boxes and placed them in his bag, as he had lent the boy one of his many decks to play with.

"So," he said, looking at Rena. "We should go talk to my grandpa about the tournament. It should be starting before too long."

"Sure, that sounds good," she replied. As Yugi stood up, Rena noticed that he was not, in fact, wearing a judge shirt, which surprised her. He had on a plain, black polo shirt and black jeans, with his signature gold pendant around his neck.

"Oh, wow!" he said as she stood up, noticing her Judge shirt. "You've judged official Industrial Illusion tournaments?"

"Oh, it's not really a big deal. Pretty much anyone can get the gig if you have a basic understanding of this game. And it's been a long time since I actually judged a large tournament. Trying to be a better duelist really took over after a while," Rena replied.

"Understandable. Still, I think it's pretty cool," Yugi stated as they walked towards the counter, where Yugi's grandpa was taking sign ups for the tournament. "Hey, Grandpa! This is the girl I told you about, Rena. You remember, the one that almost beat me at Worlds."

"Oh! It is very nice to meet you! My name is Solomon, I'm Yugi's grandfather," said the short, older man. Rena chuckled to herself at how closely he resembled Yugi, especially in height. He held out his hand for a handshake, and Rena complied as she began to speak.

"It is nice to meet you too. I hope I can be of help today," she stated with a smile.

"Grandpa, I think Rena should be the Head Judge today. She looks way more official than me, and she's actually judged official tournaments before," he said. Rena's jaw dropped.

"No way, dude! This is your store, I'm just the extra help," she protested.

"Oh, don't be silly," Solomon replied. "Yugi has a point, and we'd be happy to have you Head Judge, if that's all right. Besides, Yugi doesn't really like talking in front of crowds." Rena turned to look at Yugi for confirmation of this, which she received from his embarrassed shrug.

"Well, if you insist, I guess I could," she acquiesced.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Solomon. "We have thirty six people signed up, and considering it is almost time to start, I doubt anyone else will be joining us. I'm about to make the last call. Anyways, you can make any Head Judge announcements that you feel are necessary, as well as announce when pairings are up. Yugi is your only help today, so you two will pretty much have to do most everything."

"Works for me," Rena replied. The number of players surprised her; she hadn't been expecting the tournament to be this large on a Sunday. She was quite a bit more nervous than she was letting on. Taking judge calls from only about forty players wouldn't be too bad, especially if most knew what they were doing. However, this was her first time judging here, and her first time head judging anywhere, so it still felt like a lot of pressure. After Solomon finished taking sign ups, which somehow ended up coming to exactly forty, he gave her a few last minute details and announcements before he introduced Rena as the head judge, asking the players to give her their attention and respect as it was her first time at this store.

"Hey guys," she said after her introduction. She tapped her hands on her hips lightly before she continued, a bit of a nervous habit. She noticed Nat smiling and silently clapping, which eased her nerves slightly. Reaching for the most calm, professional voice she could manage, she began to speak "As Mr. Muto has said, my name is Rena Bishop, and I'll be your head judge for today. I'm sure most of you know this, but all rulings I provide as head judge are final and cannot be appealed. The pairings will be posted in two places, one on each wall. You have forty minutes per match. When you are done with your match, please call myself or Yugi over to take your match slip before you get up. Now, could everyone demonstrate how to properly call a judge?" This question was standard at events as an easy way to show new duelists the official procedure, which was really rather simple. About ten or so duelists, most notably Nat and Joey, immediately raised a hand and yelled "Judge!"

"Very good, thank you," Rena continued. "We will be using tier two end of match procedures, which means five turns with turn player starting as turn zero when time is called. The first round starts in three minutes. Please find your table and wait for me to announce the beginning of the round." As she finished, the duelists began to move to the two pairings sheets to find their opponents. After three minutes, when all of the players were situated at their tables, Rena and Yugi passed out the match slips. When they finished, Rena spoke up again. "Round one begins now. You have forty minutes. Good luck, duelists." The players, having shuffled and cut each others decks, immediately began play. Rena let out a sigh of relief, having been worried she would say something wrong. She noticed Yugi beside her. As she looked down at the shorter boy, he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I told you that you would do fine," he said grinning.

"Thanks," she said. "My nerves will probably settle a bit more once I start taking judge calls anyway." About five minutes later, a hand shot up, a loud voice calling "Judge!" following it. "Well, that was fast. I got this," she said as she walked towards the player. As she reached them, a heavy set, dark haired boy was the first to speak.

"So I activated Fire Formation – Tenki, and he chained Call of the Haunted on his Thunder King Rai-Oh," he said, pointing at his opponent as he specified the move. "Do I get the search from Tenki or not?" Rena surveyed the field, seeing the Tenki and Call of the Haunted, as well as the Thunder King.

"Fire Formation – Tenki is chain link one," Rena began her explanation. It was a rather simple situation in her mind, but it wasn't appropriate to comment on that to the duelists. "And Call of the Haunted is chain link two. The chain resolves backwards, with Call of the Haunted summoning Thunder King Rai-Oh before Fire Formation – Tenki resolves. Because Thunder King Rai-Oh's effect to stop searching is continuous, it will apply, and you will not be able to resolve the effect of Fire Formation – Tenki to add a Fire Fist monster to your hand." The larger boy looked a bit dejected, while his opponent remained silent.

"Ok, thanks," he said, and Rena began to wander between the tables, observing the games as she went. It was a few minutes before another judge call came, and, with Yugi being closer at that point, he moved to handle it. Looking around, Rena noticed saw Nat playing, and decided to take a closer look. She couldn't see what the other person was playing as she walked up behind Nat, who had a field of Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King, Tenki, two set cards, and a face up Dimensional Fissure. Her opponent had a clear field with seven cards in hand. She also noted both graveyards were empty, and Nat had banished a Rescue Rabbit.

"_He must be playing water_," Rena thought. The opponent activated Heavy Storm, to which Nat responded by chaining Starlight Road.

"Shit," her opponent commented rather loudly as Nat summoned a Stardust Dragon. Rena made a mental note to remember the duelist. Profanity alone wasn't prohibited, strictly speaking, but she figured Yugi's grandpa wouldn't want people cursing in his store, especially considering that there were children present. He then raised his hand to call a judge, but didn't actually say anything when he noticed Rena's presence.

"Yes?" she asked, already guessing what he was about to ask.

"Can I summon Abyssmegalo under D-Fissure?" he inquired hopefully. Rena knew there was no way a Mermail player wouldn't know that they couldn't do that, and she figured he was hoping she would provide an incorrect ruling in his favor.

"Not unless you've got two MST's," Nat said under her breath.

"Because Mermail Abyssmegalo requires the monsters to be discarded to the graveyard as a cost to activate its effect to special summon itself, the effect cannot be activated while Dimensional Fissure is face up on the field, because it is preventing cards from being sent to the graveyard." She answered immediately, with more authority in her voice than even she thought she could manage. The boy's face immediately changed from hopeful to a deep scowl, and he began to pick up his cards.

"What a fucking sack," he muttered. At this, Rena decided it would be necessary to speak up again.

"Sir, I should remind you that this is a family owned store, and the owner has requested that duelists not use foul language, as children are present. Please refrain from doing so throughout the tournament," she said, her words laced subtly with anger. She may curse just as much as anyone else, but she never did so in front of children. He turned his scowl to her before signing the match slip and walking off. Nat simply reached over and handed the piece of paper to Rena, as she had signed it while Rena chastised her opponent.

"I take it you won," she asked sarcastically.

"Really? Whatever gave you that idea?" Nat replied in kind. Rena chuckled as she signed the match slip.

"You did kind of sack him though," she teased.

"What can I say? I'm the sack master," Nat replied more smugly than one should be about such a description.

"Go find someone to trade with, weirdo," Rena replied as she walked towards Yugi, ignoring Nat's mock salute.

"What was that all about?" he asked brunette.

"Oh, just some guy cursing up a storm, being a bit of an ass, you know, usual stuff," she responded. It wasn't exactly new to her, though lately she was more likely to be in Nat's position than the one she currently held. "I didn't figure on your grandpa being cool with that, plus there are children here, so I may have reminded him of those facts and asked him to refrain from doing it again."

"Ah I see," Yugi said. "That's the type of situation where I'm glad you're helping me judge and not Joey." They both laughed before hearing another judge call. Yugi went to answer it, though it ended up being just a finished match. The rest of the round proceeded with no more judge calls other than to retrieve match slips. When the round reached its time limit, Rena looked around, and seeing a few duels still in progress, began to speak.

"Time for round one is up, duelists. Please move to end of match procedures if you have not finished your current duel." She said loudly. Yugi and Rena then moved to observe the duels to ensure the players enforced the end of match procedures correctly. Usually, store tournaments were considered tier one events, but Yugi preferred using tier two end of match procedures, which were usually reserved for Regionals and other higher level tournaments, because it simulated higher competition. He thought it was better for the duelists, which Rena could agree with. End of match procedures essentially meant that the duel would continue for five more turns, and the player with the most life points at the end of those five turns would be declared the winner. Often, it changed one's strategy drastically, and going into time was not considered a favorable event by most duelists. Rena couldn't count the number of times she had lost in time, and it was not a good feeling. Hell, even winning in time didn't really feel like a win to her. As the pair presided over the matches currently in time, Rena noticed the two duelists closest to Yugi beginning to argue.

"If I chain MST, you don't get to discard!" one of them said.

"But the effect is already activated! Cards don't have to stay on the field to resolve their effects unless they specify that! And MST doesn't negate, dumbass!" the other replied angrily.

"_Oh boy, that escalated quickly_," Rena thought to herself as Yugi stepped in.

"What seems to be the problem?" he inquired calmly, though Rena noted a slight change in his demeanor. He seemed more stern now, as if he were an angry parent about to discipline his child, as opposed to a helpful arbitrator.

"I activated the effect of The Gates of Dark World and banished my fiend for the cost, and he chained MST, saying I won't get to discard. Tell him cards don't have to remain on the field to resolve their effects so we can get on with this," the shorter one said to Yugi. Rena rolled her eyes, scoffing. She felt fortunate that the duelists didn't hear that, as it was unprofessional, but sometimes she couldn't help herself. Most judges didn't appreciate being spoken to that way by duelists. It was rude and petulant, and only made them seem arrogant, which was made all the more ridiculous when they were wrong. She did, however, feel a bit of jealousy that Yugi would be the one to put him in his place and not her.

"While it is true that most cards do not have to remain on the field to resolve their effects unless the specifically say so, all Field Spells, Continuous Spells, Equip Spells, and Continuous Traps must remain face up on the field in order for their effects to resolve. If your opponent chained Mystical Space Typhoon to the effect of The Gates of Dark World, as you stated, then you would still have to banish a fiend for the cost of the effect, and would not be able to discard and draw, as that is part of the effect," he replied coldly. His tone was not lost on Rena or the player, who simply shrunk down in his seat before looking at his hand and silently conceding, realizing he could no longer win the game. Rena chuckled a bit at his rapid change in attitude, but she was a bit annoyed with the smug look on his opponent's face. Noticing the other two matches had concluded as well, the two judges retrieved the match slips before walking to the counter to give them to Solomon so that he could enter the results and print out the next round's pairings.

"So that wasn't too awful," Yugi commented cheerfully while they waited. Rena looked down at him to respond, not having noticed the slight change in his height from the judge call a few minutes ago. She did, however, notice a slight change in his attitude again. She figured that was just how he was when he needed to be serious, though.

"Yea, I've dealt with much worse," she replied. "One time, I had a player try to convince me that his opponent's neon yellow sleeves were distracting and he deserved a game loss." Yugi laughed, thinking of the look that was surely on Rena's face when she heard what his reasoning.

"Sounds interesting. It kind of makes me wish I had judged at higher tier events," he said.

"Well, it was fun, I guess, and it definitely helped me understand card interactions a lot better, but I swear people can be crazy sometimes," Rena responded, smiling a bit as she remembered some of the more ridiculous judge calls she had taken back then.

"I would imagine," Yugi said as he nodded in agreement. It was then that Solomon handed Rena and Yugi the pairings for round two, and they promptly posted them on the walls before making a hasty retreat, trying to avoid being trampled by eager players. When it appeared that they were all situated, Rena announced the start of the round. The next round went by much the same as the first, with Rena and Yugi alternating taking judge calls. Only two matches went into time, and Yugi and Rena each simply watched a game to hurry the process along. It wasn't until the fourth round that Rena had to answer a call worth noting. One duelist, who was piloting an Infernity deck, had attempted to activate Call of the Haunted in response to his opponent activating a Mystical Space Typhoon targeting said Call of the Haunted. The player proceeded to special summon an Infernity Archfiend from his graveyard and activate its effect, at which point his opponent informed him that he could not, as Infernity Archfiend would "miss its timing" in this case. The Infernity duelist had no clue what this meant, as it happened.

"So essentially, Mystical Space Typhoon is chain link one and Call of the Haunted is chain link two. Therefore, your Infernity Archfiend is summoned at chain link two, while the chain is still resolving," Rena explained. "You would have to activate Infernity Archfiend's effect now, if you were to use it, because it says 'When this card is special summoned' and is an optional effect. However, Mystical Space Typhoon still has to resolve and destroy Call of the Haunted, so you cannot activate Infernity Archfiend's effect at this time, thus you 'miss the timing' to activate the effect." The boy looked disappointed as she finished, and Rena could tell he understood. Somehow, whenever a duelist learned the concept of "missing the timing," it always made them a bit sad, as it always prevented them from doing what they thought was a cool or creative combo or play. Rena herself felt the same way the first time she found out such a thing could happen. The only time anyone was ever happy to learn this concept was if they were a new player when Chaos Dragons were big, not too long ago, and they were told that Soul Taker would cause Lightpulsar Dragon to miss its timing. Lightpulsar can special summon a Dark Dragon-type monster from the graveyard when it is destroyed, but since Soul Taker destroys the monster and then causes the opponent to gain 1000 life points, Lightpulsar misses its timing to activate its effect.

"Well, I guess I lose this one. Good game," he said, extending a handshake to his opponent. She extender her own hand, and repeated his statement.

"_Well that went more smoothly than I had anticipated_," Rena mused as she took their match slip. After that round concluded, she went to speak with Nat while they waited for the pairings for the fifth and final round. Finding the taller girl as she was finishing a trade, Rena walked up and inquired what her record was at this point.

"I'm hurt, Rena, you weren't keeping track? It's not like you don't see the standings every round," she joked. Rena scoffed.

"As if I could keep track of your record between crushing people's dreams every time I give a ruling," she replied sardonically.

"Well, that's true," Nat said as she giggled. "And I'm X-1. I lost my last round to Gravekeeper's of all things." Rena looked confused.

"How exactly did that happen?" she asked. Gravekeeper's weren't bad, but, theoretically, they shouldn't be able to stand up to Fire Fist easily, especially when Bear essentially prevents Gravekeeper's Spy from ever getting her effect.

"Well, he opened Royal Tribute on me both games where he went first, and I had multiple monsters and no Tenki. It didn't hurt that he was actually pretty good, in addition to drawing pretty well." Nat admitted. Rena reacted with a look of sympathy.

"Damn, that sucks, dude," she said. Getting Royal Tribute'd first turn multiple times was rather unfortunate, especially considering it was unsearchable and semi-limited. "At least you'll make Top 8."

"True. I'm not too upset about it. It happens. Oh, and I got two more Breakthrough Skills!" Nat responded. Solomon chose this moment to call Rena over, as he had the pairings for top cut ready. She quickly thanked Nat before taking the paper from him. Then Rena began to call out the Top 8 matchups. As it happened, Joey was also in the Top 8. And, oddly enough, Nat was somehow playing against the Mermail player that she beat in round one again.

"_Oh, wonderful_," Rena thought. The first round of top cut began, and there were only two judge calls throughout the round. She was beginning to think that she actually wouldn't have to deal with the beligerent water duelist, until, after time was called, his hand shot up as he called for a judge. "_And here we go_."

"Yes?" Rena asked as she reached the table where Nat and the water duelist were playing. He simply glared at her before asking for Yugi to be his judge instead, which rather irked Rena.

"He is answering a judge call himself, and no, you cannot request a new judge anyway. I am the Head Judge, and that will have to be satisfactory. So what is your question," she said as collectively as she could. She was not about to blow up on this duelist, no matter how angry he made her, which she was anticipating. He gave her another dirty look before beginning his question.

"So she summons Rescue Rabbit, and I respond to the summon with Effect Veiler," he said pointing at the cards. "She chained Fiendish Chain targeting her own Rabbit and said it would be unaffected by Veiler, and wouldn't be negated when she used its effect." Rena had a feeling he actually didn't know the answer, but she knew when she told him that Nat was, in fact, correct, he was likely going to disagree anyway. Not that it really mattered. She took another look at the field, and saw that it was completely blank, save for the Fiendish Chain and Rescue Rabbit, and Dark Hole was on the top of Nat's graveyard. Rena knew that Nat was about to win.

"She is correct. Effect Veiler negates monster effects. However, because, in this scenario, Fiendish Chain is a higher chain link than Effect Veiler, Fiendish Chain will negate Rescue Rabbit before Effect Veiler can, and thus, Effect Veiler will resolve without effect, because it cannot negate a monster whose effects are already being negated. She is then free to activate Rescue Rabbit's effect, banishing it for cost. Because it is no longer on the field, it cannot be continuously targeted by Fiendish Chain, and will resolve its effect properly, summoning the two monsters," Rena said.

"Are you kidding me? That's such garbage," he spat.

"I can assure you the card interaction I have just described is correct. And, as the Head Judge, my ruling is final," she replied, still managing to remain calm despite the anger building inside her.

"Whatever, bitch. This is such fucking bullshit," he muttered. Nat eyes went wide, and Rena decided she had listened to this duelist long enough. She picked up the match slip and slammed it on to the table, scribbling furiously on it. The standard procedure when issuing a penalty was to write the penalty on the match slip, so as to keep a record of all penalties given over the course of the event.

"Congratulations, Natalia. You advance to top 4. And you sir," she said, staring coldly at the offending party. "Are receiving an Unsportsman-like Conduct Penalty – Severe for verbally abusing a judge, as well as ignoring warnings to maintain clean language. You have been disqualified without prize, and I am going to have to ask you to leave." The boy was speechless, and he turned to look at Yugi, hoping he would somehow over rule Rena. Yugi, as it happened, had been watching the whole scene. He simply smirked and pointed to his left.

"The exit is that way, I believe," was his only response. The water duelist's face was red with rage, but he knew there was nothing he could do. Any more resistance would likely end with him being banned from the store, so he simply packed up his stuff and left. It was then that Rena noticed the four remaining duelists who had yet to finish had stopped playing to watch the events unfold.

"Continue playing, please. We don't want to be here all night," she said with a smile. She felt rather satisfied after kicking the problem player out. It wasn't that Rena enjoyed handing out penalties, it just annoyed her to no end when people were disrespectful not only to the judges, but to the tournament organizer as well. She walked over to the remaining matches to observe. As they finished, she was approached by Joey.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side while you're judging," he joked.

"Because my bad side is so much better when I'm not judging," she countered. Joey smiled.

"Seriously though. Nat told me about that guy after round one. I don't think I'd have been as calm as you," he stated.

"So Yugi tells me," Rena said with a chuckled. Joey laughed as well, realizing why Yugi had asked her to help judge and not him. They continued chatting for a few minutes, with Nat joining them after a while. They wondered if Nat and Joey would be dueling each other in the next round. It wasn't long before Yugi approached Rena with the pairings for top 4. As it happened, Nat and Joey would not be dueling just yet. Nat sat down across from a redheaded girl who was about Rena's height. She introduced herself as Janet.

"Best of luck to you," she said with a smile.

"Thanks, you too," Nat replied. Having lost the die roll, she would be going second. Her opponent began by summoing Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress, and Nat groaned internally, as she wasn't looking forward to playing against Lightsworns. Next to her, Joey began his turn by setting a Geargiarmor along with four cards in his back row, and passed to his opponent. Rena watched the duels carefully, paying more attention to Joey's game, figuring that Nat might lose game one, but had some of the best possible side deck cards to handle Lightsworn's. Joey ended up OTK'ing his opponent, who was playing Chaos Dragons, on the first game. The second game was roughly the same, only it was Joey who lost. It wasn't an OTK, but it only took three turns to end. The third game, however, was much more interesting. It started out going back and forth, with each duelist making a push and being stopped on their respective turns. Eventually, Joey summoned a Stardust Dragon, a Gear Gigant X, and a Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" along side a Geargiarmor present from the previous turns. He attacked with Burei, then Gear Gigant X, and finally with Geargiarmor, bringing his opponent to 800 life points. However, his opponent activated the effect of Tragoedia, which can special summon itself when the duelist takes life point damage. It was previously his only card in hand at that point, so Joey wasn't too worried. He had an incredibly safe field set up at this point, even with no back row. He set the Geargiarmor with its effect and passed to his opponent. He drew for turn, and, looking at his card, smirked before reaching for his graveyard. Rena held her breath. Joey's opponent moved painfully slow, and the suspense was killing her. He banished a light and a dark monster from his graveyard to special summon a Chaos Sorcerer. Rena let out a small sigh.

"_At least he didn't topdeck a BLS_," she thought.

The duelist activated Chaos Sorcerer's effect, banishing the Burei. Joey wasn't worried yet. He could still attack over the monster with Stardust. Then his opponent did something neither Joey nor Rena was expecting. He activated Tragoedia's effect to copy the level of a monster in his graveyard, making it level six. Just like Chaos Sorcerer.

"Oh boy," Joey commented quietly, seeing what was about to happen. His opponent overlayed the Tragoedia and Chaos Sorcerer to Xyz summon a Photon Strike Bounzer. He then proceeded to attack Joey's Stardust Dragon, destroying it. The Chaos duelist ended his turn, and Joey drew his card. It was a Mystical Space Typhoon. He cursed to himself. He couldn't believe he had gone from such a winning position to this. Surveying the field, however, he had an idea. First, Joey flip summoned the Geargiarmor, activating its effect. The duelist across from his responded with Bounzer's effect, negating it. Joey stared at the Geargiarmor. He needed his opponent to think he needed Armor's effect to go through so that he would take the bait. After about thirty seconds, he declared the activation of Geargiarmor's effect to set itself.

"Negate," said his opponent as he detached the second material from Photon Strike Bounzer and Joey smirked subtly. Having baited both negations, he was free to do as he pleased. Entering his battle phase, Joey declared an attack on the Photon Strike Bounzer with Gear Gigant X. His opponent furrowed his brow, confused as to why he would suicide his Gear Gigant. He had forgotten, however, about its secondary effect. When it leaves the field, Gear Gigant X can special summon any level three or lower Geargia monster from the graveyard. Rena watched the play wide eyed as she understood where it was going.

"I'll target Geargiano with Gigant's effect," Joey stated. His opponent nodded, still unaware of his situation. Joey then declared the activation of Geargiano's effect, tributing it to special summon geargiaccelerator. Realization finally dawned on his opponent as he saw the two level four monsters.

"Oh shit," was all he could say as Joey proceeded to Xyz summon Gagaga Cowboy in defense position. He detached a material to activate its effect, dealing 800 points of life point damage to his opponent to end the game.

"Bang, bang," Joey said with a smirk. His opponent actually chuckled at this. He extended his hand as he spoke.

"Good game, man. I thought I almost had you that time," he said.

"Well, you did, actually. If you hadn't negated the second effect of Geargiarmor, I probably would have lost," Joey said. He wasn't trying to make his opponent feel bad, he was simply trying to offer his help so that the boy could improve. They continued discussing the game, with Joey pointing out where he thought his opponent could have made a different and potentially more optimal play. Rena turned her attention back to Nat who had a much easier time with her opponent, and was already finished. As it turned out, her opponent wasn't particularly skilled, and had essentially lucked her way to Top 4.

"_They aren't called Sacksworns for nothing_," Rena thought as Nat recounted the game to her.

"You better focus, dude. It's just you and Joey now," she informed the taller girl. Rena was rather excited to watch this game, and the feeling was shared by Yugi.

"This should be pretty interesting," Yugi noted as the two duelists sat down.

"No kidding," Rena replied. She was consumed by anticipation at this point, and began to wonder if the two could shuffle any more slowly. When they had both shuffled and cut each other's decks, they shook hands.

"Best of luck," Nat said with a wink.

"Same to you," Joey replied with a smirk as he drew his cards.

**Chapter 2 Deck Lists:**

Nat's Dino Fist:

_Main:_

3 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear

1 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla

3 Gene-Warped Warwolf

2 Rescue Rabbit

3 Sabersaurus

2 Tour Guide from the Underworld

2 Maxx "C"

1 Dark Hole

3 Fire Formation - Tenki

1 Fire Formation - Tensu

2 Forbidden Lance

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Pot of Duality

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Fiendish Chain

2 Breakthrough Skill

1 Mirror Force

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Solemn Warning

1 Starlight Road

2 Torrential Tribute

_Extra:_

2 Abyss Dweller

2 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King

1 Diamond Dire Wolf

1 Evolzar Dolkka

1 Evolzar Laggia

1 Gagaga Cowboy

1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

1 Number 50: Blackship of Corn

1 Photon Papilloperative

1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

1 Stardust Dragon

_Side:_

2 Banisher of the Radiance

3 Dimensional Fissure

2 Dust Tornado

2 Effect Veiler

1 Mind Control

2 Rivalry of Warlords

3 Snowman Eater

Joey's Geargia Karakuri:

_Main:_

2 Effect Veiler

3 Geargiaccelerator

2 Geargiano Mk-II

3 Geargiarmor

3 Geargiarsenal

1 Genex Ally Birdman

1 Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi"

2 Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan"

1 Maxx "C"

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

1 Book of Moon

1 Dark Hole

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mind Control

1 Monster Reborn

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Pot of Avarice

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

2 Fiendish Chain

2 Solemn Warning

2 Seven Tools of the Bandit

1 Starlight Road

1 Torrential Tribute

_Extra:_

1 Black Rose Dragon

2 Gear Gigant X

3 Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"

2 Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

1 Gagaga Cowboy

1 Photon Papilloperative

1 Scrap Dragon

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Crimson Blader

1 Soul of Silvermountain

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

_Side:_

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror

3 Macro Cosmos

2 Rivalry of Warlords

2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

2 Snowman Eater

2 Gozen Match

**Chapter 2 Card Database:**

Swift Scarecrow – Effect Monster / Level 1 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 – When your opponent's monster declares a direct attack: You can discard this card; negate that attack, then end the Battle Phase (this is a Quick Effect).

Maxx "C" – Effect Monster / Level 2 / Earth / Insect / ATK: 500 / DEF: 200 – You can activate this effect during either player's turn by sending this card from your hand to the Graveyard. This turn, each time your opponent Special Summon a monster(s), draw 1 card. You can only activate "Maxx "C"" once per turn.

Stardust Dragon – Synchro / Effect Monster / Level 8 / Wind / Dragon / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000 / 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters – During either player's turn, when a card or effect is activated that would destroy a card(s) on the field: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it. During the End Phase, if this effect was activated this turn (and was not negated): You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard.

Breakthrough Skill – Trap – Target 1 face-up Effect Monster your opponent controls; negate the effects of that opponent's face-up monster, until the end of this turn. During your turn, except the turn this card was sent to the Graveyard: You can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 face-up Effect Monster your opponent controls; negate that target's effects until the end of this turn.

Black Rose Dragon – Synchro / Effect Monster / Level 7 / Fire / Dragon / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 1800 / 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters – When this card is Synchro Summoned: You can destroy all cards on the field. Once per turn: You can banish 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard to target 1 Defense Position monster your opponent controls; change that target to face-up Attack Position, and reduce its ATK to 0 until the End Phase.

Debris Dragon – Effect Monster / Tuner / Level 4 / Wind / Dragon / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 2000 – When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 monster with 500 or less ATK in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Attack Position. Its effects are negated. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a Dragon-Type Synchro Monster. The other Synchro Material Monster(s) cannot be Level 4.

Card Trooper – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 400 / DEF: 400 – Once per turn: You can choose a number from 1 to 3, then send that many cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard; this card gains 500 ATK for each card sent to the Graveyard this way, until the End Phase. When this card you control is destroyed and sent to your Graveyard: Draw 1 card.

Number 39: Utopia – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Light / Warrior / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000 / 2 Level 4 monsters – When any player's monster declares an attack: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the attack. When this card is targeted for an attack, while it has no Xyz Materials: Destroy this card.

Elemental HERO Stratos – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Wind / Warrior / ATK: 1800 / DEF: 300 – When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can activate 1 of these effects.

● You can destroy Spell/Trap Cards on the field, up to the number of "HERO" monsters you control, except this card.

● Add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand.

Eradicator Epidemic Virus – Trap – Tribute 1 DARK monster with 2500 or more ATK, and choose Spell Cards or Trap Cards; check your opponent's hand, all Spell/Trap Cards they control, and all cards they draw until the end of their 3rd turn after this card's activation, and destroy all cards of the chosen type.

Fire Formation – Tenki – Continuous Spell – When this card is activated: You can add 1 Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. All Beast-Warrior-Type monsters you control gain 100 ATK. You can only activate 1 "Fire Formation - Tenki" per turn.

Call of the Haunted – Continuous Trap – Activate this card by targeting 1 monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Attack Position. When this card leaves the field, destroy that target. When that target is destroyed, destroy this card.

Thunder King Rai-Oh – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Light / Thunder / ATK: 1900 / DEF: 800 – Neither player can add cards from their Deck to their hand except by drawing them. During either player's turn, when your opponent would Special Summon exactly 1 monster: You can send this face-up card to the Graveyard; negate the Special Summon, and if you do, destroy it.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King – Xyz Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 1800 / 2 Level 4 Beast-Warrior-Type monsters – When this card is Xyz Summoned: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the effects of all face-up Effect Monster currently on the field, except Beast-Warrior-Type, until the end of your opponent's turn. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can send 3 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Cards you control to the Graveyard; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior-Type monsters with the same ATK from your Deck, in face-up Defense Position.

Dimensional Fissure – Spell – Any monster sent to the Graveyard is banished instead.

Heavy Storm – Spell – Destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.

Starlight Road – Trap – When a card or effect is activated that destroys 2 or more cards you control: Negate the effect, and if you do, destroy that card, then you can Special Summon 1 "Stardust Dragon" from your Extra Deck.

Mermail Abyssmegalo – Effect Monster / Level 7 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 2400 / DEF: 1900 – You can discard 2 other WATER monstes to the Graveyard, Special Summon this card from your hand. When you do: You can add 1 "Abyss-" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. You can Tribute 1 other face-up Attack Position WATER monster; this card can make a second attack during each Battle Phase this turn.

The Gates of Dark World – Field Spell – All Fiend-Type monsters gain 300 ATK and DEF. Once per turn: You can banish 1 Fiend-Type monster from your Graveyard; discard 1 Fiend-Type monster, then draw 1 card.

Infernity Archfiend – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Dark / Fiend / ATK: 1800 / DEF: 1200 – When you draw this card (except during the Damage Step), if you have no other cards in your hand: You can reveal this card; Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Infernity" card from your Deck to your hand. You must have no cards in your hand to activate and to resolve this effect.

Lightpulsar Dragon – Effect Monster / Level 6 / Light / Dragon / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 1500 – You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard. You can Special Summon this card (from your Graveyard) by sending 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your hand to the Graveyard. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can target 1 Level 5 or higher DARK Dragon-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.

Soul Taker – Spell – Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; destroy that target, then your opponent gains 1000 Life Points.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 1200 – Once per turn, when this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can send 1 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card you control to the Graveyard to target 1 monster on the field; destroy that target.

Gravekeeper's Spy – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Dark / Spellcaster / ATK: 1200 / DEF: 200 – FLIP: Special Summon 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

Royal Tribute – Spell – If you control "Necrovalley": Both players discard any monsters in their hands.

Rescue Rabbit – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Beast / ATK: 300 / DEF: 100 – This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. You can banish this face-up card you control; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Destroy them during the End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be activated once per turn.

Effect Veiler – Effect Monster / Level 1 / Light / Spellcaster / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 – During your opponent's Main Phase, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to select 1 face-up Effect Monster your opponent controls. Negate the effect(s) of that monster until the End Phase.

Fiendish Chain – Continuous Trap – Activate this card by targeting 1 Effect Monster on the field; its effects are negated, also it cannot attack. When it is destroyed, destroy this card.

Dark Hole – Spell – Destroy all monsters on the field.

Lyla, Lightsworn Sorcerer – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Light / Spellcaster / ATK: 1700 / DEF: 200 – You can target 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls; this card's battle position cannot be changed until the end of your next turn, also change this card you control from face-up Attack Position to face-up Defense Position, and if you do, destroy that target. During each of your End Phases: Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.

Gear Gigant X – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 2300 / DEF: 1500 / 2 Level 4 Machine-Type monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; add 1 Level 4 or lower Machine-Type monster from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. When this card leaves the field: You can target 1 Level 3 or lower "Geargia" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.

Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" – Synchro / Effect Monster / Level 7 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 1900 / 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters – When this card is Synchro Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Karakuri" monster from your Deck. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster on the field; change its battle position.

Geargiarmor – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 1100 / DEF: 1900 – Once per turn: You can change this card to face-down Defense Position. When this card is flipped face-up: You can add 1 "Geargia" monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Geargiarmor".

Tragoedia – Effect Monster / Level 10 / Dark / Fiend / ATK: ? / DEF: ? – When you take Battle Damage: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. This card gains 600 ATK and DEF for each card in your hand. Once per turn: You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard to target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls with the same Level as the sent monster; take control of that target. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in your Graveyard; this card's Level becomes the same as that target's, until the End Phase.

Chaos Sorcerer – Effect Monster / Level 6 / Dark / Spellcaster / ATK: 2300 / DEF: 2000 – Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up monster on the field: banish that target. This card cannot attack during the turn you activate this effect.

Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning – Effect Monster / Level 8 / Light / Warrior / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500 – Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard. Once per turn, you can activate 1 of these effects.

● Target 1 monster on the field; banish that target face-up. This card cannot attack the turn you activate this effect.

● During the Damage Step, if this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: It can make a second attack in a row.

Photon Strike Bounzer – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 6 / Light / Warrior / ATK: 2700 / DEF: 2000 / 2 Level 6 monsters – Once per turn, during either player's turn, when a monster effect is activated on your opponent's side of the field: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the effect, and if you do, inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.

Geargiano – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 500 / DEF: 1000 – You can Tribute this card, then target 1 Level 4 Machine-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it, but its effects are negated.

Geargiaccelerator – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 800 – If you control a "Geargia" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand) in face-up Defense Position. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Geargia" monster in your Graveyard, except "Geargiaccelerator"; add that target to your hand.

Gagaga Cowboy – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Earth / Warrior / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 2400 / 2 Level 4 monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; apply this effect, depending on this card's battle position.

● Attack Position: If this card attacks an opponent's monster this turn, it gains 1000 ATK and the opponent's monster loses 500 ATK, during the Damage Step only.

● Defense Position: Inflict 800 damage to your opponent.

**Chapter 2 Glossary:**

"BLS" – Common shortcut players use to refer to Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

Chaos Dragons – A deck most popular in the summer of 2012, it focused on using monsters that could be special summoned by banishing a light and a dark monster from the graveyard. Most of these were dragons, along with things like Chaos Sorcerer and Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. It made use of some Lightsworn monsters to fill the graveyard with monsters to fufill the chaos monsters' summoning conditions.

Cost – Actions that a player is required to perform to activate a card or effect. Tributing and discarding are common costs.

"D-Fissure" – Common shortcut referring to Dimensional Fissure.

Dark World – A deck made up of Dark Fiend-Type monsters that all gain special effects when discarded from the hand to the graveyard, such as destroying opponent's cards, drawing cards, special summoning themselves, and searching for other Dark World cards. It also gained advantage by making use of cards that allowed them to see the opponent's hand, such as Dragged Down into the Grave, and Eradicator Epidemic Virus and Deck Devastation Virus, and comboing this knowledge with Mind Crush.

End of Match Procedures – When a match goes over the allotted time, the game moves to end of match procedures. This means that the game will end in either 3 or 5 turns, depending on the size of the tournament. Local store tournaments are tier one, and use 3 turns, while Regionals, Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series, and World Championship Qualifiers are tier two, and use 5 turns. The current turn player when time is called is considered to be on 'Turn 0' and the count advances at the end of each player's turn. Whoever has the most life points at the end is declared the winner of that game.

Gravekeeper's – One of the first true archetypes, based on Egyptian tomb-keeper motifs, is a deck that focuses on controlling the opponent's moves while putting them under pressure from cards like Gravekeeper's Descendant and it's field spell, Necrovalley.

HERO – An archetype known for its use by the protagonist of GX, Jaden Yuki, this deck was typically run in two variants: Bubble Beat and HERO Beat. Both are built around the ability to quickly Xyz and Fusion summon powerful monsters to beat down the opponent. HERO beat was more focused on control, while Bubble Beat focused on OTK's.

Hieratics – An archetype of Light Dragons based on Egyptian mythology introduced in the Galactive Overlord set, this deck was typically built as a rank 5 and rank 6 spam and OTK deck. Most Hieratic monsters have an effect to special summon a normal dragon from the deck, graveyard, or hand when tributed, and that monster's attack becomes zero. That is why they were typically used for the purpose of making Xyz monsters. After the release of the Hidden Arsenal 7 set, the deck could OTK with almost any combination of three of the four hieratic monsters commonly used in the main deck.

Lightsworn – This archetype of light monsters focused on milling, sending the top card from the deck to the graveyard. The boss monster, Judgment Dragon, can be special summoned if there are four lightsworn monsters with different names in the graveyard. This ability led them to be commonly combined with dark monsters to make Chaos-sworn Variants, sometimes known as Twilight, and some are used in Chaos Dragon decks as well.

"Maxx "C" Challenge" – When a player uses Maxx "C," the intent is usually to force the opponent to stop special summoning, because the opponent shouldn't want to give them free cards. However, sometimes players will continue their push, regardless of the mass number of cards that will be drawn, if they believe they can end the game that turn. A player making said push is said to be "Taking the Maxx "C" Challenege.

Miss timing – Any card that contains the phrase "When... you can" is an optional effect. Because of the word "When," cards with this wording must be activated when the condition on the card was the last thing to happen. If they, for some reason, cannot activate that time, due to being in the middle of a currently resolving chain or effect, they are said to miss their timing. However, cards that say "If... you can," "When... do," or "If... do," cannot miss timing, and will activate on a separate chain after the current one has finished resolving.

"MST" – Common shortcut for Mystical Space Typhoon. This acronym is used constantly due to how abundantly the card is used. Some players also simply say "space."

"Sacksworns" – Because Lightsworn is a deck based entirely around luck, that is, the luck of milling the cards you want in the graveyard and drawing the ones you want to summon, along with the fact that its boss monster, Judgment Dragon, is incredibly powerful, as well as making use of cards like Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, it can produce extreme blowout wins with no skill. It is a common deck to be 'sacked' by, thus, many players nickname it 'Sacksworns.'

Swiss – A tournament format where all players play the same number of rounds, and the players with the best records advance to Top Cut, which is single elimination play-offs. The number of rounds of Swiss and Top Cut depends on the number of entrants.

"Scrub" – A common insult among players, it is an accusation of a lack of skill or intelligence.

"Topdeck" – The action of drawing a card, essentially. Usually used when describing a situation where the player's only resource is the card on the top of deck, because they have no other cards in hand.

"Unsportsman-like Conduct Penalty – Severe" – Physically or verbally assaulting a player or judge is one grounds for this penalty, along with defacing property, stealing, or being intoxicated at an event, and Disqualification without prize is the punishment. In this chapter, Rena essentially upgraded the penalty from what would be considered UC – Major for using profanity and insulting a judge because she had previously warned the player. I took some liberties with the way this situation would likely be handled in real life, as it would likely be a longer, more official process in that case.

"Water" – Mermail decks are sometimes referred to by players simply as 'water'

Win Condition – In the technical sense, a win condition is anything that produces a win, for example, dropping the opponent's life points to zero, or having all five pieces of Exodia. However, the term has been generalized by players to also refer to situations or cards that a deck makes use of to achieve the win. In the Dark World vs. HERO example, Eradicator Epidemic Virus could be considered a win condition against HERO decks because they are so reliant on their spells, that Eradicator essentially leaves them no way to fight back, and thus, wins the game for Dark World.

"X-1" – A typical way of referring to one's record at a tournament is to say X followed by the number of losses. This is usually because your wins do not indicate your likelyhood of making top cut as simply as losses do. In most tournaments, regardless of rounds, the top cut players will be X-0, X-1, or X-2 by the end of Swiss format.


	3. Chapter 3

_**To Be the Queen of Games**_

_Note: For anyone reading this, I do apologize, but Chapter 4 will take a bit longer for me to finish, as I have spent most of this week preparing for a regional tournament this weekend (April 19th). I promise I will be back on track as far as writing next week._

_**Chapter 3:**_

_April 7th, 2013_

"High roll chooses?" said Nat, placing two six sided dice on the table.

"Works for me," Joey replied as he rolled the dice. They both landed on four. Nat sighed internally, knowing how much of an advantage going first would give her. It wasn't imperative by any means, but Geargia have a much harder time when going second. She picked up the dice and rolled. The first landed almost immediately on a three. She held her breath as the second one continued, finally landing on a six. Joey grimaced slightly.

"Awesome," Nat said as she picked up her five cards, smiling. "I'll go first." She drew her sixth card and surveyed her hand. Rescue Rabbit, Forbidden Lance, Fire Formation – Tenki, Mystical Space Typhoon, Dimensional Prison, and Solemn Judgment. She smirked as she normal summoned the Rescue Rabbit. "Response?" Joey immediately sent an Effect Veiler from his hand to the graveyard to negate the Rabbit. Nat groaned. She looked at her hand again, thinking. The Rabbit would be negated until the end of the turn, so, if she could protect it, she would still be able to use it during her next turn. She activated the Tenki and added a Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear to her hand and set the Solemn Judgment, Forbidden Lance, and Dimensional Prison before ending her turn. Joey drew for turn, set one monster and three back row, before nodding his head to Nat to indicate he was ending his turn. Rena and Yugi observed the game, both guessing that the set monster was a Geargiarmor. Nat was also fairly certain of this fact, as the entire Geargia strategy rode on being able to search for other Geargia monsters with Geargiarmor's effect. At the very worst, she would simply assume it was and act accordingly. She drew a card to start her second turn, a Sabersaurus. She then banished the Rescue Rabbit, announcing her activation of its effect. Joey looked at the cards he had set and thought for a moment.

"Ok, that's fine," he said, indicating he had no response to the effect. Nat special summoned two Sabersaurus's from her deck. Joey then flipped up one of the cards he had set. Bottomless Trap Hole.

"Ouch," Rena commented to Yugi as they watched. Because Bottomless Trap Hole says "When your opponent summons a monster(s)," it would destroy and banish both Sabersaurus'es, as they were summoned at the same time.

"_Lovely_," Nat thought sarcastically as she banished her monsters. She then placed the Bear she had searched last turn on the field. "Normal summon Bear?"

"No response," said Joey.

"Activate Bear effect," Nat declared, sending the Fire Formation – Tenki to the graveyard for the cost of the effect. "Target the set monster." Joey activated another one of his set cards, a Fiendish Chain, to stop the Bear from destroying his monster. Nat looked at her hand again before activating her Mystical Space Typhoon on the Fiendish chain to allow her Bear to resolve.

"Well, that's not good," Joey mused as he moved the monster, which was, in fact, a Geargiarmor, as well as the Fiendish Chain to the graveyard. Nat smirked, knowing she had just taken control of this game. After entering the battle phase, she pushed the Bear forward slightly, indicating she was declaring an attack with it. Joey activated a final set card, Dimensional Prison, thinking that if the Bear connected with this attack, he would likely lose this game. Nat smirked again, activating Forbidden Lance to protect her Bear from the final trap card. She only dealt 800 points of damage to Joey's life points, but she was able to activate her Bear's effect to set a Fire Formation spell or trap directly from her deck. Joey, only having one card, would likely not be able to keep up with the momentum Nat had just generated. Nat activated the Fire Formation – Tenki she had just set with Bear after ending her battle phase, and added yet another Fire Formation – Bear to her hand. Joey sighed as he drew for his turn, and his eyebrows rose a bit as he saw what it was.

"I'll activate Monster Reborn," he said, placing the new card on the field. Nat contemplated negating it with Solemn Judgment, but she knew the worst thing he could really do at this point was get back his Geargiarmor, and if he already had another monster with which to make a Synchro or Xyz, she could simply negate its summon.

"Sure," she said, allowing it to go through unopposed. Joey placed the Geargiarmor back on the field before special summoning the Geargiaccelerator that was the last card in his hand. "No response." He then overlayed the two machines to attempt to summon a Gear Gigant X. Nat flipped up her Solemn Judgment. Joey stared at the trap before looking up at Nat.

"Game two?" he said with a chuckle, picking up his cards. He still had plenty of life points, but he had no way to protect his field from the two Bears that would be on the field next turn, and Nat had simply gained to much advantage. It didn't help that Geargias didn't really have a single card to make powerful plays in one turn; even the centerpiece of the deck, Geargiarmor, required at least one turn of set up, which Nat would simply barrel through if Joey attempted to mount a come back.

"Game two," Nat confirmed as they began looking through their side decks. Nat had decided to only side in two cards for Geargia: two Effect Veilers. She took out the Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Gorilla and one of her two Pot of Duality to accommodate them. The two duelists had a bit of an audience at this point, mostly the duelists who had be eliminated but felt like sticking around to see the results, in addition to Yugi and Rena. Nat was fairly confident now, having taken game one, which meant she would also be going first on game three, if it came to that.

"I'll go first," Joey stated, as it was the loser's choice to pick who went first in the following game.

"Are you sure you couldn't just let me go first again?" she joked, winking at him. He laughed.

"If I were playing any other deck, I just might," he countered, before setting one monster and three cards to his back row. "Come at me, bro." Joey smirked as he issued his challenge. Nat raised an eyebrow at the blonde boy.

"A bit cocky are we?" she joked. Nat drew her sixth card, cursing her luck that she wouldn't draw Heavy Storm when he set three. She didn't let that show, however, as her hand was still remarkably good. Fire Formation – Tenki, Forbidden Lance, Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, Fire Formation – Tensu, and Tour Guide from the Underworld. She weighed her options quickly before activating a Tenki and adding a Bear to her hand. "How do you always open with Tenki?" Joey asked incredulously.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time you've opened Geargiarmor with back row, is it?" Nat replied, revealing her read on Joey's set monster. Not that it was a difficult read; one almost always assumed the set monster to be Geargiarmor when facing a Geargia duelist. Joey didn't respond, knowing that even if Nat knew what the monster was, he shouldn't give her more information than she could obtain on her own. He simply smirked. Nat proceeded to normal summon the Bear she had just searched, to which Joey responded with a Bottomless Trap Hole.

"Chain lance," Nat declared as she placed the spell on the table to protect her monster. Joey remained expressionless at her response. Fire Fist duelists almost always seemed to have a lance, he noted. "Activate Bear's effect."

"Veiler," was Joey's response as he placed the hand trap in his graveyard.

"Ok, so you get on my case about opening Tenki when you open Armor, Bottomless, and Veiler twice in a row?" Nat teased. She wasn't really serious. This was Duel Monsters, and luck was part of the game, as Rena had many times reminded her.

"Yea, I can't really say anything to defend that," Joey replied with a small laugh. Nat just sighed slightly before setting the two traps and ending her turn. Joey drew to start his turn and immediately flipped up his set monster, which was, in fact, a Geargiarmor. Nat nodded, letting it go through, as responding with her Torrential Tribute at this point likely would not do enough damage, in addition to not stopping Geargiarmor's effect. Joey added a Geargiaccelerator to his hand before special summoning it, as well as one he had previously in his hand. On the second Accelerator summon, Nat flipped up her Torrential Tribute. She smirked, knowing she was about to devastate Joey's field, until he responded with his own trap: Starlight Road. Nat groaned. She knew she was in trouble now. Not only was Joey about to land a big hit, she would not be able to stop it with her Mirror Force, due to the Stardust Dragon summoned by his trap. Next, he Xyz summoned yet another Gear Gigant X and activated its effect, only this time he added an Accelerator from his graveyard to his hand. He then attacked the Bear with his Stardust Dragon, so that another Forbidden Lance couldn't save Nat's monster. Nat contemplated he response, deciding to go ahead and activate the Mirror Force and get rid of the Stardust Dragon. Normally, Stardust can special summon itself from the graveyard in the end phase of a turn in which it tributed itself to negate an effect, but because this one was summoned by Starlight Road and not a proper Synchro summon, it could not be revived from the grave. Joey tributed it to activate its effect, saving his two Gigants from the trap. He then used one of the Gigants to swing over Nat's Bear, followed by a direct attack with the second, dealing 3000 points of damage to the girl's life points. Joey passed his turn after that.

"Awesome," Nat said sarcastically as she drew a Heavy Storm for turn. "A bit late for this." She activated the spell, destroying Joey's final set card, a Solemn Judgment, before normal summoning her Tour Guide from the Underworld and using its effect to special summon the second Tour Guide from her deck. She then Xyz summoned a Wind-Up Zenmaines in defense mode, trying to stall Joey at this point. She knew, though, that if his extra deck contained a Number 50: Blackship of Corn, she would lose next turn regardless. Her fears were alleviated, albeit only slightly, when Joey used the Gigant's effect to add back two Accelerators before Xyz summoning a Photon Papilloperative. Nat wasn't going to lose this turn, but she certainly would next turn if she didn't draw an answer. Joey used his new Xyz's effect to switch the Zenmaines into attack position before attacking it with all three of his monsters, dealing another 4000 points of damage before destroying it on the final attack. He set one more card before passing back to Nat. She stared at her deck, knowing her next draw would decide this game.

"Not looking too good for Nat," Yugi commented quietly to Rena.

"Yea, she pretty much has to draw Dark Hole to stay in this game at all," she replied. Nat drew her card, and shook her head before picking up her cards to shuffle them.

"Guess that's a no," Rena said.

"Well, looks like this is it," Joey commented as he cut Nat's deck.

"Looks like it," Nat agreed as she mirrored his action. Nat would be going first this time, and she was pleased with her opening hand. She activated Tenki for Bear, again, before setting Torrential Tribute and Fiendish Chain along with normal summoning the Bear. Her remaining hand consisted of a Gene-Warped Warwolf, a Maxx "C", and a Forbidden Lance. Joey drew for his first turn before setting one monster along with three back row, passing back to Nat. She drew a Sabersaurus for turn, and rolled her eyes at the card.

"_This is why I never liked playing Dino Rabbit_," she thought.

"You drew a vanilla, didn't you?" Joey inquired, noticing her expression.

"That obvious?" Nat said with a smirk. Drawing the normal monsters that were required for Rescue Rabbit's use was never fun. Before she could enter her main phase, Joey held up a finger for her to wait. Each duelist has the right to activate any fast effects they choose before moving to the next phase, and Joey had a decision to make, so he held them in the standby phase. He stared at the field before checking his back row, contemplating whether to activate one of them. Nat wasn't really sure what he was thinking so hard about, but she didn't have to wait long for an answer, as he chose to activate a Mystical Space Typhoon targeting Nat's Fire Formation – Tenki. She could easily hear the duelists in the audience questioning that play, as it was by no means an optimal one from her view. Rena and Yugi both grimaced as they watched, knowing how desperate Joey must be if he had to do that. "_That means he must not have an answer to Bear's effect_." Nat thought carefully about her next move. She was fairly certain that she wouldn't be Torrential'ed if she summoned her Warwolf, and if one of the set cards was a Bottomless that wouldn't be too big of a deal. She decided to normal summon the Gene-Warped Warwolf, and Joey had no response. She then proceeded to Xyz summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King with the two monsters, which allowed her to set a Fire Formation – Tenki from her deck. She promptly activated said Tenki, adding another Bear to her hand. She then moved to the battle phase, attacking the set monster with Tiger King. Joey considered his back row again before deciding he had no response to the attack. He flipped up the Geargiarmor and added a Geargiano MK-II to his hand with its effect before it was destroyed. Nat then set her Forbidden Lance before ending her turn. Joey drew, and a confident smile crept across his face. Nat didn't really like that look, considering Geargia was an OTK deck, but she had her own Torrential Tribute and Maxx "C" so she decided not to worry. Joey activated Dark Hole, and Nat simply responded with Forbidden Lance to protect her Tiger King. Nat's confidence was fairly high, as now she could also use Torrential Tribute while keeping her Tiger King on board. But Joey didn't seem deterred. He summoned the MK-II and attempted to use its effect to revive Geargiarmor. Nat decided to go ahead and chain Maxx "C" to this effect. Normally she would have waited until Joey had placed himself into a more compromising position before using Maxx "C" but she felt this would simply pressure him to stop, as well as giving her an extra card to secure her victory next turn. Joey, however, had no such plans to stop.

"Here we go," he said as he special summoned a Geargiaccelerator, giving Nat her second card. Several of the spectators held their breath, knowing the risk Joey was taking. Joey then returned Accelerator to his hand to special summon a Genex Ally Birdman, and Nat drew her third card. Then, he special summoned the accelerator he had returned. Four cards. She was starting to worry, remembering Rena's previous warning about a Geargia duelist taking the Maxx "C" challenge, but she reassured herself with the Torrential Tribute she had set. Plus, it would only take her drawing into one of her two Effect Veilers off the "C" to stop his OTK combo. After using Geargiarmor's effect to flip itself face down, he tuned the Birdman and Accelerator to Synchro summon Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei," which special summoned a Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan," giving Nat two more cards, and still no Effect Veiler. She frowned. Surely she was not about to lose to this. Joey's next move was to tune the Saizan with the MK-II to Synchro summon a second Burei, which brought a Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi" from his deck. Nat drew two cards again. The Nishipachi's effect flipped Geargiarmor face up, getting Joey another Geargiaccelerator from the deck, which he special summoned. Nat drew for Maxx "C," receiving only a useless Mirror Force. No Veiler. She wouldn't be able to stop the effect of the final Burei. Nat's heart was beating rather rapidly at this point. She really did not want to lose, especially in the way Rena had so carefully described on their way to this tournament. Joey then tuned the Nishipachi with the Geargiarmor to Synchro summon his third and final Burei, which special summoned a second Saizan. Seeing that Joey could now Synchro summon a Stardust Dragon, Nat finally decided to respond with her Torrential Tribute. Joey's eyes went wide, and for a second, Nat believed she had just won this duel. Until Joey flipped one of his back row cards face up.

"Shit," Nat whispered, seeing the Seven Tools of the Bandit behind Joey's monsters. That was it. Game over. Nat had just lost. She didn't have to do the math. The three Burei's alone were only 200 points shy of 8000, so even with her Tiger King, she wouldn't survive the turn. Nat simply stared at the board in disbelief. All of the cards in her hand were useless. "_Damn_," she thought. Rena looked heartbroken. She hadn't wanted to see her best friend lose this way. Nat was roused from her brief stupor when a hand entered her vision. She looked up, Joey was smiling, though not in a cocky, arrogant way.

"That was a great duel," he said. It took a second for the voice to register, but when it finally did, Nat just rolled her eyes and smiled. As angry as she was at herself at the moment, she wasn't about to let Joey, or any of the spectators, see how the loss had affected her. She took his hand.

"Yea, I guess it was," she teased. "Though I'm a little upset I didn't draw a single Veiler out of fourteen cards."

"It happens," Joey said. "I was pretty nervous on that one, but I figured if I didn't go ahead and do it, I was probably going to lose."

"Well, perhaps you're right," she replied, chuckling to herself. After she finished packing her stuff, she got up from the table. "It's been fun."

"Hey, text me or Yugi sometime if you guys want to hang out and play or test or anything," said the blonde. "It's always fun to have new people to play against." Nat smiled weakly. As nice as Joey was being, she wasn't really in the mood for idle conversation at the moment.

"Sure thing, dude," she said. She meant it, but she really wanted to just go home right then. Rena picked up on this, and decided to speak up.

"Not to rush you guys or anything, but I still have a homework assignment to finish tonight so we really should be going," she said.

"Ok, see you later," Joey said with a smirk.

"Nat you can go see my grandpa to get your prize," Yugi spoke, before turning his attention back to Rena. "And I want to thank you for helping out today. You were a life saver." Rena chuckled.

"It was no problem, dude. Thanks for trusting me with Head Judging your tournament. It was fun," she replied as Nat collected her prize. Rena gave a small wave to Yugi and Joey as she and Nat stepped out of the store. It was getting dark as the two girls left. Rena checked her watch and noticed it was past 7:00.

"Jeez," she said. "That took a bit longer than I hoped it would. I really do still have Calculus homework to finish." Nat looked at her, raising her eyebrow.

"Isn't that your first class tomorrow?" she inquired. "At 8:00?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Rena groaned. "But hey, its not so bad. At least I got to judge a tournament again, which ended up being fun, despite the presence of a few jerks. Oh, and I got to watch my best friend kick ass today." Rena smiled and gave the taller girl an encouraging nudge with her elbow. Nat looked at her and gave a weak smile.

"Yea I guess," she said. Rena frowned.

"Hey, cheer up, girl," she said. "You know second place is by no means bad, especially when you lost to the second best duelist in the country. That's nothing to be ashamed of." Nat relaxed a bit upon hearing her best friend's words.

"Thanks, Rena," she said, pulling the girl into a hug as they walked. Rena grinned, thankful she was able to cheer up her friend. "I'm not really that torn up about losing, I'm just kind of pissed at myself for not taking your advice. You pretty much described exactly how I was going to lose."

"Oh, come on, don't beat yourself up over that. You still would have had to draw into it, just like your Veilers, and adding a single Swift Scarecrow would only have increased that chance by a little. Plus, you had Torrential set. He just happened to have the answer," said Rena.

"Well, I doubt he would have taken the Maxx "C" challenge into a back row without protection," Nat countered.

"True, but he wasn't any more likely to draw it than you were to draw your Veilers. It's Duel Monsters. These things just kind of happen sometimes. No matter how good you are, sometimes it just isn't your game to win," Rena stated. Nat scoffed.

"Yea well then why do you always seem to manage to win every weekend?" she said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't deny that she sometimes felt a little jealous of Rena's success. Rena just shrugged and looked away. She didn't really know what to say at this point.

"I don't know dude," she began. "But even I can screw up. You saw me choke against Yugi at Worlds last year."

"At least you made it to Worlds," Nat replied sadly. Rena stopped and grabbed Nat by her shoulders, looking her directly in the eye.

"Hey," she said sternly. "Now listen, I know damn well you're just as good as any Duelist out there, and that you could wreck everyone at Worlds. You know it too. We've been at this for too long. You got unlucky. It happens. Now cheer up, Ok?" Nat still didn't look convinced, so Rena took Nat's hand and began to drag her along.

"Hey! Where are we going?" Nat yelped.

"You won't cheer the hell up, so I'm going to get you some ice cream. I know you can't stay upset after eating ice cream." she replied. A smile began to creep over Nat's face at her friend's antics. She decided to catch up to the shorter girl so that she was no longer being dragged. It wasn't long before the two ended up outside of a diner, which they promptly entered, with Nat still grinning at Rena as they sat down.

"You know me a little too well," Nat teased. Rena rolled her eyes.

"I've known you pretty much my whole life, and I've lived with you for two years. I'd be weirder for not knowing something as simple as this," she replied. They were then approached by a waiter, who quickly took down their orders. Rena went with a simple vanilla soft serve, while Nat decided on a banana split.

"So, Industrial Illusions is going to release the card list for Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy tomorrow," Rena said, trying to keep Nat's mind off of the tournament. "I really want to know that this 'Spellbook of Judgment' does."

"It's probably going to be pretty broken. You know they love to release ridiculous cards to sell new sets," Nat replied. She wasn't wrong; the more powerful the cards in a set were, the more people wanted them, and thus, the more they bought. It was kind of a vicious cycle of creating newer and more powerful cards constantly to promote new sets, and then limiting or forbidding them later because they were too good. However, most duelists had come to realize this and learned to live with it. "By the way, did you ever get a chance to look at the cards in the new Hidden Arsenal set? There were quite a few people at that tournament talking about Evilswarms."

"Yea, they seem pretty good. They probably won't be too much of a threat though," Rena mused.

"Really? Even though Evilswarm Ophion can search a themed lance?" Nat asked.

"Well, I mean, Fire Fist aren't hurt by Ophion's restriction to special summoning level five or higher monsters. Also, Infestation Pandemic only stops spells and traps, not monster effects, so Bear and Heavy Infantry should suffice as far as taking care of it. Evilswarms really seem like a one-trick pony, you know?" Rena answered. "I'm not worried. If we manage to pick any of it up, that's fine, but I doubt I'll play it."

"I see. When's that set coming out?" Nat asked.

"Umm, I believe the release date is April 26th," the brunette responded, though Nat could hardly understand her, as she had a mouthful of ice cream.

"What was that now?" she asked, giggling.

"I said, I think it's April 26th," Rena clarified. They continued chatting about Duel Monsters, until Rena finally noticed what time it was. "Dude! It's already 9:00! I still have to finish my homework!" She groaned, and Nat just laughed.

"If you didn't procrastinate so much, you wouldn't have this problem," she said, not that she was much better about it, which Rena was sure to remind her of as they got up to head back to their apartment. Rena quickly paid for their ice cream, and the two girls resumed their journey home.

"I am so not looking forward to my homework," Rena complained.

"Why don't you complain a little more? I'm sure that will help alleviate your workload," Nat joked, promptly receiving a smack on her arm from the shorter girl. "I'm just saying."

"Whatever, dude. You're lucky I already like you," the brunette responded.

"Oh believe me, I know. Who else wouldn't say 'I told you so' after such a perfect opportunity and then buy me ice cream to cheer me up?" said Nat. Rena grinned.

"Oh, I don't know, Joey seemed pretty interested in your company after that duel," she said, giving the taller girl a playful shove. Nat looked at Rena indignantly.

"This coming from the girl who had the King of Games drooling over her all day," Nat spoke.

"Ew. Still gross, dude, and you know damn well that isn't true," Rena grimaced, covering her face.

"And it's not when you make the same joke about his best friend?" asked Nat. Rena thought for a moment.

"Fair enough," she conceded. They then arrived at their apartment. Rena quickly sat down at the desk in her room to begin her homework, having no desire to sacrifice any sleep, if possible, while Nat opened the eighteen packs she won from the tournament. After about five minutes, Rena heard Nat's voice from the living room.

"Dude!" she yelled. Rena jumped slightly at the sudden noise.

"What's up?" she called out.

"Pulled a Diamond Dire Wolf and a Spellbook of the Master!" Nat replied.

"Two secret rares and you didn't even get the whole box? I guess someone felt bad for you not drawing your Veilers," Rena joked, their conversation still taking place across the small apartment.

"I guess so," Nat said with a laugh.

"Now leave me alone. I need to concentrate. These equations aren't going to derive themselves," Rena said. "_Sadly_," she thought to herself, continuing to work. It was around 11:00 when she finished and announced that she would be going to bed.

"Night!" Nat said as Rena walked back into her room, collapsing onto the bed much in the same way she had that very morning.

"_Interesting day_," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

**Chapter 3 Deck Lists:**

Nat's Dino Fist:

_Main:_

3 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear

1 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Gorilla

3 Gene-Warped Warwolf

2 Rescue Rabbit

3 Sabersaurus

2 Tour Guide from the Underworld

2 Maxx "C"

1 Dark Hole

3 Fire Formation - Tenki

1 Fire Formation - Tensu

2 Forbidden Lance

1 Heavy Storm

1 Monster Reborn

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

2 Pot of Duality

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Fiendish Chain

2 Breakthrough Skill

1 Mirror Force

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Solemn Warning

1 Starlight Road

2 Torrential Tribute

_Extra:_

2 Abyss Dweller

2 Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King

1 Diamond Dire Wolf

1 Evolzar Dolkka

1 Evolzar Laggia

1 Gagaga Cowboy

1 Maestroke the Symphony Djinn

1 Number 50: Blackship of Corn

1 Photon Papilloperative

1 Leviair the Sea Dragon

1 Temtempo the Percussion Djinn

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

1 Stardust Dragon

_Side:_

2 Banisher of the Radiance

3 Dimensional Fissure

2 Dust Tornado

2 Effect Veiler

1 Mind Control

2 Rivalry of Warlords

3 Snowman Eater

Joey's Geargia Karakuri:

_Main:_

2 Effect Veiler

3 Geargiaccelerator

2 Geargiano Mk-II

3 Geargiarmor

3 Geargiarsenal

1 Genex Ally Birdman

1 Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi"

2 Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan"

1 Maxx "C"

2 Thunder King Rai-Oh

1 Book of Moon

1 Dark Hole

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mind Control

1 Monster Reborn

3 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Pot of Avarice

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Compulsory Evacuation Device

2 Fiendish Chain

2 Solemn Warning

2 Seven Tools of the Bandit

1 Starlight Road

1 Torrential Tribute

_Extra:_

1 Black Rose Dragon

2 Gear Gigant X

3 Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei"

2 Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

1 Gagaga Cowboy

1 Photon Papilloperative

1 Scrap Dragon

1 Stardust Dragon

1 Crimson Blader

1 Soul of Silvermountain

1 Wind-Up Zenmaines

_Side:_

2 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo

2 Light-Imprisoning Mirror

3 Macro Cosmos

2 Rivalry of Warlords

2 Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror

2 Snowman Eater

2 Gozen Match

**Chapter 3 Card Database:**

Rescue Rabbit – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Beast / ATK: 300 / DEF: 100 – This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. You can banish this face-up card you control; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Destroy them during the End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be activated once per turn.

Forbidden Lance – Quick-play Spell – Target 1 face-up monster on the field; until the End Phase, that target loses 800 ATK, but is unaffected by the effects of other Spell/Trap Cards.

Fire Formation – Tenki – Continuous Spell – When this card is activated: You can add 1 Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. All Beast-Warrior-Type monsters you control gain 100 ATK. You can only activate 1 "Fire Formation - Tenki" per turn.

Mystical Space Typhoon – Quick-play Spell – Target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target.

Dimensional Prison – Trap – When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Target that attacking monster; banish that target.

Solemn Judgment – Counter Trap – When a monster would be Summoned, OR a Spell/Trap Card is activated: Pay half your Life Points; negate the Summon or activation, and if you do, destroy that card.

Effect Veiler – Effect Monster / Level 1 / Light / Spellcaster / ATK: 0 / DEF: 0 – During your opponent's Main Phase, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to select 1 face-up Effect Monster your opponent controls. Negate the effect(s) of that monster until the End Phase.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 1200 – Once per turn, when this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can send 1 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card you control to the Graveyard to target 1 monster on the field; destroy that target.

Geargiarmor – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 1100 / DEF: 1900 – Once per turn: You can change this card to face-down Defense Position. When this card is flipped face-up: You can add 1 "Geargia" monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Geargiarmor".

Sabersaurus – Normal Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Dinosaur / ATK: 1900 / DEF: 500 – _This normally gentle dinosaur enjoys relaxing in its nest in the prairies. If it becomes angered, it turns terribly ferocious._

Bottomless Trap Hole – Trap – When your opponent Summons a monster(s) with 1500 or more ATK: Destroy that monster(s) with 1500 or more ATK, and if you do, banish it instead of sending it to the Graveyard.

Fiendish Chain – Continuous Trap – Activate this card by targeting 1 Effect Monster on the field; its effects are negated, also it cannot attack. When it is destroyed, destroy this card.

Monster Reborn – Spell – Target 1 monster in either player's Graveyard; Special Summon it.

Geargiaccelerator – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 800 – If you control a "Geargia" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand) in face-up Defense Position. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Geargia" monster in your Graveyard, except "Geargiaccelerator"; add that target to your hand.

Gear Gigant X – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 2300 / DEF: 1500 / 2 Level 4 Machine-Type monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; add 1 Level 4 or lower Machine-Type monster from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. When this card leaves the field: You can target 1 Level 3 or lower "Geargia" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Gorilla – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Fire / ATK: 1600 / DEF: 1000 – Once per turn, when this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can send 1 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card you control to the Graveyard to target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target.

Pot of Duality – Reveal the top 3 cards of your Deck, add 1 of them to your hand, then shuffle the rest back into your Deck. You can only activate 1 "Pot of Duality" per turn. You cannot Special Summon during the turn you activate this card.

Heavy Storm – Spell – Destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field.

Torrential Tribute – Trap – When a monster(s) is Summoned: Destroy all monsters on the field.

Mirror Force – Trap – When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.

Fire Formation – Tensu – Continuous Spell – During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 Beast-Warrior-Type monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) All Beast-Warrior-Type monsters you control gain 100 ATK.

Tour Guide from the Underworld – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Dark / Fiend / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 600 – When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 3 Fiend-Type monster from your hand or Deck. Its effects are negated, and it cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster.

Starlight Road – Trap – When a card or effect is activated that destroys 2 or more cards you control: Negate the effect, and if you do, destroy that card, then you can Special Summon 1 "Stardust Dragon" from your Extra Deck.

Stardust Dragon – Synchro / Effect Monster / Level 8 / Wind / Dragon / ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000 / 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters – During either player's turn, when a card or effect is activated that would destroy a card(s) on the field: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it. During the End Phase, if this effect was activated this turn (and was not negated): You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard.

Wind-Up Zenmaines – Xyz / Effect Monster / Fire / Machine / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 2100 / 2 Level 3 Monsters – If this face-up card on the field would be destroyed, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card instead. Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this effect was used this turn: Target 1 card on the field; destroy it.

Number 50: Blackship of Corn – Xyz / Effect Monster / Dark / Plant / ATK: 2100 / DEF: 1800 / 2 Level 4 Monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls with ATK less than or equal to this card's; send it to the Graveyard, and if you do, inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. This card cannot attack the turn you activate this effect.

Photon Papilloperative – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Light / Warrior / ATK: 2100 / DEF: 1800 / 2 Level 4 Monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 Defense Position monster on the field; change it to face-up Attack Position, and if you do, it loses 600 ATK.

Dark Hole – Spell – Destroy all monsters on the field.

Gene-Warped Warwolf – Normal Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 2000 / DEF: 100 – _This warwolf was given incalculable strength through horrific genetic manipulation. Its gentle nature was completely wiped out, and it now lives only to unleash destruction._

Maxx "C" – Effect Monster / Level 2 / Earth / Insect / ATK: 500 / DEF: 200 – You can activate this effect during either player's turn by sending this card from your hand to the Graveyard. This turn, each time your opponent Special Summon a monster(s), draw 1 card. You can only activate "Maxx "C""

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King – Xyz Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Fire / Beast-Warrior / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 1800 / 2 Level 4 Beast-Warrior-Type monsters – When this card is Xyz Summoned: You can Set 1 "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Card directly from your Deck. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the effects of all face-up Effect Monster currently on the field, except Beast-Warrior-Type, until the end of your opponent's turn. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can send 3 face-up "Fire Formation" Spell/Trap Cards you control to the Graveyard; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior-Type monsters with the same ATK from your Deck, in face-up Defense Position.

Geargiano MK-II – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 500 – When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Geargia" monster from your hand or Graveyard in face-up Defense Position.

Genex Ally Birdman – Tuner / Effect Monster / Level 3 / Dark / Machine / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 400 – You can return 1 face-up monster you control to the hand to Special Summon this card from your hand, and this card gains 500 ATK if it was a WIND monster you returned. If this card is Special Summoned this way, remove it from play when it is removed from the field.

Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" – Synchro / Effect Monster / Level 7 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 1900 / 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters – When this card is Synchro Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Karakuri" monster from your Deck. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster on the field; change its battle position.

Karakuri Watchdog mdl 313 "Saizan" – Tuner / Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 600 / DEF: 1800 – This card must attack if able. When this face-up card is selected as an attack target, change its battle position. When you take Battle Damage from a battle involving this card, all face-up "Karakuri" monsters you control gain 800 ATK and DEF until the End Phase. While this card is in face-up Attack Position, it cannot be destroyed by battle.

Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi" – Tuner / Effect Monster / Level 3 / Earth / Machine / ATK: 500 / DEF: 1600 – This card must attack if able. When this face-up Attack Position card is selected as an attack target, change it to Defense Position. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, select 1 monster on the field and change its battle position.

Seven Tools of the Bandit – Counter Trap – When a Trap Card is activated: Pay 1000 Life Points; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.

Evilswarm Ophion – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Dark / Dragon / ATK: 2550 / DEF: 1650 / 2 Level 4 "lswarm" monsters – While this card has Xyz Material, Level 5 or higher monsters cannot be Special Summoned. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; add 1 "Infestation" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand.

Infestation Pandemic – Quick-play Spell – All face-up "lswarm" monsters you currently control are unaffected by other Spell/Trap effects this turn.

Atlantean Heavy Infantry – Effect Monster / Level 2 / Water / Sea-Serpent / ATK: 0 / DEF: 1600 – During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Sea Serpent-Type monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) When this card is sent to the Graveyard to activate a WATER monster's effect: Target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy that target.

Diamond Dire Wolf – Xyz / Effect Monster/ Rank 4 / Earth / Beast / ATK: 2000 / DEF: 1200 / 2 Level 4 Monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast-Type monster you control and 1 other card on the field; destroy them.

Spellbook of the Master – Spell – If you control a Spellcaster-Type monster: You can reveal 1 other "Spellbook" card in your hand, then target 1 "Spellbook" Normal Spell Card in your Graveyard, except "Spellbook of the Master"; this card's effect becomes that target's effect. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of the Master" per turn.

**Chapter 3 Glossary:**

Chain – Fast effects activated in response are placed on chain links, and they resolve in reverse order from their activation. For example, Bear activates its effect, Fiendish Chain is chained in response, and Mystical Space Typhoon is chained to that. Chain link 1 : Bear, Chain Link 2: Fiendish Chain; Chain Link 3: Mystical Space Typhoon. MST resolves first, destroying Fiendish Chain, which, because it is a continuous trap, will be unable to negate Bear, who will then resolve its effect. Announcing 'chain' is a declaration that you are activating an effect as the next chain link.

Fast Effect – A fast effect is any effect of a monster, spell, or trap card that is considered to be spell speed 2 or higher. This includes all traps and quick-play spells, as well as monsters with quick-effects, like Effect Veiler. Typically, quick-effects are denoted by either the phrase "During either player's turn" or "(This is a quick effect)." Any spell speed two effect can be chained to any other spell speed one or two effect. Counter traps are considered spell speed 3, and as such can chain to any spell speed 2 effect, but only other counter traps can be chained to their activation.

Hidden Arsenal – Hidden Arsenal sets were booster sets of a different series from the standard series of boosters. They also differed in that each pack contained five super rare cards and one secret rare card, as opposed to the standard ratio of eight common cards and one rare, with a possibility for a super, ultra, ultimate, secret, or ghost rare. Hidden Arsenal 7, the set which Rena and Nat referred to, was originally slated for release on April 19th, 2013, but was delayed, and released on the 26th instead. It was most notable for the Constellar and Evilswarm archetypes it introduced, as well as the cards Lavalval Chain and Daigusto Emeral. It was the final Hidden Arsenal set.

Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy – The booster set that was released in the TCG on May 17th, 2013, following Cosmo Blazer.

Phase – Each turn in a duel consists of phases, which dictate which actions a player may or may not take at that time. They are: Draw Phase, Standby Phase, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, End Phase. Both players must agree when moving to a new phase during any turn. However, most duelists tend to take shortcuts, not necessarily announcing phase changes, but it is typically accepted by most players.

Secret Rare – There are different rarities of cards, denoted by their style of foiling. This is one of the highest rarities. In each booster box of 24 packs, a single Secret Rare card is guaranteed. Occasionally, one might pull two, though this is very uncommon.

"Themed lance" – Nat's comparison of Infestation Pandemic to Forbidden Lance. This was a common comparison upon the announcement of the card, as it was considered essentially a Forbidden Lance for the whole archetype, or theme, in this case. 'Themed' is also commonly used to make such comparisons to other cards for various archetypes.

Vanilla – Slang for a normal monster.


	4. Chapter 4

_**To Be the Queen of Games**_

_Author's Note: I do apologize this one took longer than I had hoped. I would love to tell you that I went undefeated and destroyed everyone at the regional last weekend, but, sadly, I went 5 - 3 and lost to the bubble. I could make the excuse that I drew near unplayable hands all three games of two of my matches, and still almost won despite my opponent opening amazing, but I'm sure I there were plenty of better plays I could have made throughout the day. Alas, there is always room for improvement. Anyway, thank you to anyone who has made it this far. I hope you enjoy the story. _

_**Chapter 4:**_

_April 8th, 2013 _

Rena's eyes fluttered open as the light making its way through her window fell onto her face. She yawned and stretched in her bed, sighing comfortably as she glanced over at her clock, the sight of which caused her to immediately jump up from her bed.

"Dammit!" she yelled as she tore off her clothes from the previous night and frantically changed into something relatively decent to go to class in. She had overslept her 8:00 Calculus class by thirty minutes, and was now rushing to get there in time to turn in her homework. It wasn't really missing the class that she feared; the teacher was rather dull and she often fell asleep mid lecture. However, this particular professor did not accept late work, and she was not really in a good enough position to be able to afford zeroes when she could easily earn one-hundred percent credit. So, as soon as she felt she was presentable enough, wearing just running shorts and a tank top because she knew she'd be running almost the entire way, the short girl grabbed her bag and dashed out of the apartment towards campus. It took Rena only five minutes of flat out sprinting to reach the campus, and another two to make her way to the math department and into the classroom. She arrived covered in sweat, looking rather flustered. There was no make up on her face and her hair was falling from the already messy bun she had stuffed it in before her departure. Fortunately, few people paid her any mind, as the class was rather large, so she quickly took her usual seat at the back of the classroom. Rena considered herself lucky at this point, considering she would only have to sit through ten minutes of the lecture before it ended, and the professor was only reviewing previously taught material today. As the professor, a tall, middle aged man who was sporting a rather thick beard, droned on about derivatives and curves, Rena reached into her bag to retrieve her homework. As her hand moved through her bag, she was quickly confused when she was unable to locate the binder which contained her homework.

"_You have got to be kidding me_," she thought with growing frustration as she pulled the bag into her lap to more closely examine its contents. Rena cursed to herself. She had left the binder on her desk in her room. She let her head fall forward until it came in contact with her current desk with a resounding thump. A small number of her classmates turned to observe the disturbance, but Rena really didn't care at that point. Her eyes were closed tightly as her head lay on the cool wooden surface. The day had already become less than pleasant and it wasn't even 9:00. She groaned internally. "_No point in even getting out of bed today_." Her eyes snapped open when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She retrieved it to see that she had received a text from Yugi.

"_LTGY Card List just released_." It read. It was quickly followed by another text, only this one was from Nat.

"_Dear lord of all that is holy, have you read Spellbook of Judgment yet_?"

Rena's eyebrows rose. It couldn't be that bad. Nat's text also had an image attached to it, which Rena promptly opened. It was a picture of a spell card, namely, Spellbook of Judgment. Nat squinted slightly as she read the text before her.

"_During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook of Judgment", up to the number of Spell Cards activated after this card's resolution, then, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 Spellcaster-Type monster whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards added to your hand by this effect. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Judgment" per turn._"

"What the actual hell!?" the girl shrieked. Recognizing she had vocalized what she was thinking from the incredulous stares of both her classmates and professor, the brunette sank down into her chair and sheepishly muttered an apology, her face flushing red.

"No, please, do share with the rest of the class," the professor said, having walked over to her seat. He towered over her, holding out his hand for her phone. It was the policy of a fair few of the professors at Domino University to punish students who texted in class by reading their texts aloud, as they could not technically confiscate the phone as a high school teacher could. She awkwardly surrendered her phone, her face burning with a deep shade of scarlet now. While Rena could appreciate having an audience, she would prefer it be while she was playing Duel Monsters. The professor peered over his glasses to view the image on her screen. Seeing the image, he looked back at the short girl with a look that Rena decided was somewhere between disappointment and skepticism. "What's your name, young lady?"

"Rena Bishop," she mumbled, her eyes cast downward.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite hear you," the professor stated, sounding annoyed.

"Rena Bishop," she repeated loudly, looking back up at the older man. The room was slowly filled with murmurs between her classmates, and she figured that at least a decent percentage of them knew who she was. Duel Monsters was a fairly popular game, and she had become a minor celebrity over the past year.

"So I guess it will surprise no one that I find the image of a Duel Monsters card on your phone in the middle of my class," the professor sneered. Rena wasn't sure whether to be put off by his tone or impressed that he knew who she was. While it wasn't uncommon for adults know of or even play the game, as larger tournaments were broadcast on national television and they would often watch with their children, Rena hadn't expected her uptight calculus professor to have any interest in it, let alone recognize her. Actually, he probably did watch it with his kids, she figured. There was no way he was the type to play. The corners of her mouth slowly moved apart as a smirk covered her face.

"I guess not," she replied coolly. "Do I need to explain why that particular card is absolutely busted, or would you like to continue your lecture?" Rena was surprised by her own sudden display of confidence, though she attributed it to the fact that this man had brought the situation into her territory, where she had already proven herself. The professor sighed.

"No, I really don't care how 'absolutely busted' this card is," he said, rolling his eyes as he repeated Rena's words. "There are more important things in life than games. And while you are in my class, I expect you to pay attention. Don't let this happen again." He passed the phone back to the girl, who gave a small salute as he turned to walk back to the front of the classroom.

"You're dismissed," he said to the class, which rose in a flurry of movement to leave the room. Rena, despite her desire to leave, stayed seated while the rest of the students filed out of the classroom. When most had left, she slowly rose from her seat and lazily left, her right hand rubbing circles on her temple. The lack of breakfast, combined with the early morning run and recent embarrassment had bestowed the girl with a splitting headache. Not paying much attention to her surroundings, she bumped directly into someone on her way out.

"My bad," she said quietly, before looking up at her obstacle. She was greeted with an unfortunately familiar sight: the duelist she had disqualified and thrown out of Solomon Muto's store. "_Oh boy_." She steeled herself for the storm of insults that was undoubtedly coming her way.

"Well, look who it is," the boy said, his dark, greasy hair falling just above his eyes. He was skinny, and his pale skin was covered in freckles. Rena rolled her eyes, which was met with a scowl from the taller boy. "I never realized the great Rena Bishop was in my class."

"Look, I'm not feeling particularly sociable today, so whatever you want to say to me, can you at least make it quick?" She let out a sigh as she made her request.

"Fine. Duel me," he demanded. Rena raised her eyebrows, looking at him skeptically.

"While I normally wouldn't mind, as I said, I'm not feeling sociable today," Rena said as calmly as she could manage. "So I am going to have to decline."

"Frightened, are we?" he sneered. Rena sighed.

"I fail to see how my lack of desire to duel someone as unpleasant as yourself for no reason indicates fear," she responded.

"Then let's give you a reason. Duel me for five hundred dollars," the boy replied smugly.

"Dude, really?" She scoffed. It wasn't terribly uncommon for duelists to make such challenges, especially when they wanted to humiliate their opponent, but Rena had no interest in such petty things. "I had every right to disqualify you, get over yourself."

"That's not what it looks like when you cost me the match against your best friend. Twice. And it isn't going to look any better when you bitch out of a challenge," he spat, before nodding his head towards a group of people who were pointing their cell phones at the scene, recording it. Rena groaned and cursed the existence of the internet, for this conversation would be all over it quite soon.

"Look, dude, I can't help that you think you're entitled to be an ass," she began. "But, in all seriousness, I care so little about what you or the rest of the scumbags in this game think of me that it really doesn't matter how this looks. It doesn't change the fact that I rightfully disqualified you, nor will it convince me to take your money, because let's be honest, if you got 2-0'ed twice by the same duelist while playing a deck that I know inside and out, you aren't going to beat me. So please, do me a favor and piss off." Rena stormed past the speechless boy, ignoring the gasps from their small audience. At this point, she had no desire to go to the rest of her classes, so she simply headed back to her apartment. It wasn't long before she made it home, and no sooner had she arrived did she drop her bag and quite ungracefully face plant onto the couch.

"Back so soon?" Nat asked from her seat in the kitchen where she was currently eating breakfast. Rena shifted her head ever so slightly so that her voice would not be muffled.

"Today already sucks. I'm skipping the rest of my classes," she stated. Nat looked away from her meal to the brunette.

"What happened?" she inquired.

"Long story," Rena replied. It really wasn't, but she didn't feel like repeating it. "Just don't send me pictures of broken cards while I'm in class." Nat chuckled, inferring that to be the cause of at least some of the poor girls misery.

"My bad," she said. "But yea, that thing is beyond busted."

"Oh yea, let me just play all of the cards in my hand for no reason, because when my turn ends I'll still be up on card advantage and I'll summon a boss monster from my deck, just for fun," Rena spoke, essentially summing up the premise of the new card. "Why do I need to bother even looking at the rest of the set?"

"Actually, you might want to. There's a whole new archetype of dragon monsters and they seem just as bad," Nat said. Rena finally looked up at her raven-haired roommate.

"You're joking. There is now way they're are as ridiculous and poorly designed as 'Spellbook of Judgment,'" she said.

"Well, see for yourself," Nat told Rena, handing the shorter girl her phone. "They're called Dragon Rulers." Rena's face scrunched up as she read the first card on the screen.

"_Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos. Level 7 Fire Dragon. 2800 Attack, 1800 Defense. If this card is in your hand or Graveyard: You can banish a total of 2 FIRE and/or Dragon-Type monsters from your hand and/or Graveyard, except this card; Special Summon this card. During your opponent's End Phase, if this card was Special Summoned: Return it to the hand. You can discard this card and 1 FIRE monster to the Graveyard, then target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. If this card is banished: You can add 1 FIRE Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use 1 "Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos" effect per turn, and only once that turn_."

"Seems all right," Rena said, unimpressed. It was good, to be sure, but on its own didn't seem to compare to the spell card.

"Look at the next one," Nat responded. Rena swiped the screen of the phone to view the next image.

"_Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks. Level 3 Fire Dragon. 1000 Attack, 200 Defense. You can discard this card AND 1 Dragon-Type or FIRE monster; Special Summon 1 "Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos" from your Deck. It cannot attack this turn. You can only use the effect of "Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks" once per turn_."

"Ok, now that seems really good," Rena admitted. "Though I still don't see how that can compete with Spellbooks."

"There's a pair just like those for each attribute, minus light and dark," Nat stated. "And then there's this." Nat retrieved her phone and pulled up a new image before returning it to Rena.

"_Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack. Rank 7 Wind Machine. 2 Level 7 monster. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; Special Summon 2 "Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens" (Machine-Type/WIND/Level 3/ATK 0/DEF 0). While you control a Token, this card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 "Mecha Phantom Beast" monster, then target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. This card cannot attack during the turn you activate this effect._"

"Oh. My. God," Rena said as realization dawned on her. A strategy composed entirely of Dragon Rulers would abuse the smaller dragons to bring the big ones from the deck and overlay them for a Dracossack, then reuse themselves from the graveyard to make more rank seven Xyz monsters by banishing dragons. If the big ones were banished, they would search a dragon of their respective type, and Rena knew of at least two level one dragon tuners off of the top of her head, which would make it incredibly easy to use a constant stream of level eight Synchro monsters as well.

"Oh, and as if that weren't enough, there's a new spell card called Sacred Sword of Seven Stars," Nat added. Rena scrolled to the next image on the phone, becoming more stunned with each passing second.

"_Sacred Sword of Seven Stars. Normal Spell. Banish 1 Level 7 monster from your hand or face-up from your side of the field; draw 2 cards. You can only activate 1 "Sacred Sword of Seven Stars" per turn_."

"Are you kidding me?!" Rena said. Her jaw dropped. "So now the deck essentially has a Pot of Greed." Rena thought for a moment, remembering all of the other existing dragon support cards. Then she remembered a card that was the basis for an incredibly annoying strategy called Dragon Draw Exodia: Super Rejuvenation. "And as if having a Pot of Greed wasn't enough, the deck can totally abuse Super Rejuvenation." She paused again, still thinking of existing cards that would fit well in the deck. "Oh, and let's just throw Gold Sarcophagus in there as well, because that will essentially let the deck search for any dragon it wants!"

"You see my point," Nat said calmly, though she had spent the better part of her morning reacting much in the same way that Rena was now. "So the only question is, what's better? Spellbooks or Dragons?" Rena was silent. She contemplated the question. It was much more complicated than it at first seemed, and Rena decided she couldn't really answer the question adequately at the moment.

"Honestly, I'd have to think about that one a lot. There's too many factors to consider, though I imagine an optimal build for both decks won't take long to find. This stuff is just too ridiculous. It's going to change the game more drastically than anything we've had for a while," she said giddily. Nat nodded, taking in every word of Rena's analysis, though she was a bit confused by Rena's enthusiasm.

"Why are you so excited?" she questioned.

"Because!" Rena began, grinning widely. "I have no clue what's going to happen. The format is going to shift so rapidly when this is released, and the game itself is going to change. It's exciting, don't you think?" Nat just shook her head and chuckled at her friend. She sounded like a child in a toy store.

"I suppose so," she conceded. "You think we'll be able to get the cards for these decks in time for the Atlanta Circuit Series? It's the week after the set is released." Rena bit her lip. She hadn't considered this.

"Well, if not, I imagine the water Dragon Ruler would fit quite nicely in Mermails, along with Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack. I should be able to use that, and you could pick up Evilswarms to use, because I imagine they're the only other thing besides Mermail that will be able to stand up to Dragons. Plus, you'll have access to EEV, so you can potentially just destroy Spellbooks." Rena said. "And obviously this is assuming we can't get Dragon or Spellbook decks."

"Works for me," Nat responded. She looked at her watch and her eyes went wide. "Dammit, Rena, I'm going to be late for class!"

"Or you could just be a slacker and skip like me," Rena said with a smirk.

"Some of us can't afford to be delinquents," Nat countered, sticking her tongue out at the brunette, who made a rather taunting and childish face in response. Rena chuckled as the tall girl hurried out of the apartment.

"Holy shit," Rena said to herself. She retrieved a binder of cards from her bag and began to inventory its contents, deciding on what she could afford to sell and trade to assemble a new deck. She wasn't an expert at trading like Nat, but she knew enough about the economics of Duel Monsters to know that cards like these often ended up being rather expensive, and her sponsorships really only covered travel to various events. She had a bit of prize money left, but a lot of it had gone to help with paying for school and her apartment, and she wasn't in a hurry to dip into what was left until she earned more. She sighed as she opened up her laptop. The sponsorship she had received after the previous years World Championship came from Kaiba Corporation, and one of its stipulations was that she write articles for Duelist Weekly, a magazine the company published. Kaiba Corporation was one of Industrial Illusions' biggest distributors of Duel Monsters cards, and, as such, the company did everything in its power to boost sales, one of which being a publication that included columns and articles written by well known duelists. While she wasn't particularly in the mood to write, she wanted to record her initial thoughts on the new set while it was still fresh on her mind, as it would be good material for this week's article. As she typed, she noticed she had received another text from Yugi.

"_Have you checked out the new set yet_?" Read the message on the screen. Rena quickly typed out a reply.

"_No, I decided to completely ignore the most broken and game changing set ever released. Aren't you in school right now?_"

"_Nah, we had the day off today. Speaking of which, Joey and a few other friends are hanging out at my grandpa's store. You and Nat are welcome to come._"

Rena scoffed, wishing college had more days off.

"_I see. And thanks for the invite. I'm kind of busy at the moment, though. Sorry. :(" _

She wasn't really doing anything that couldn't be put off for the time being, but Rena really wanted to take a nap after the somewhat interesting morning she had experience. Also, she was rather appalled that high school kids wouldn't be sleeping in on their day off. She concluded that there just had to be something wrong with those kids, and shook her head with a chuckle.

"_All right, well let us know if you change your mind! :)_"

Rena smiled before turning back to her laptop. She typed out a few more sentences before deciding she had worked long enough and deserved that nap. She walked lazily to her room before flopping down onto the bed and curling up under the covers.

A few miles away, at Kame Game, Yugi sighed as he placed his phone back into his pocket. He went back to observing the duel currently taking place between a tall boy with a faux-hawk and a pale girl with short, brown hair.

"I'll activate Madolche Queen Tiaramisu's effect," the girl stated. The boy thought for a moment.

"Targets?" he asked. The girl fanned out her graveyard, and pointed to a Madolche Magileine and a Madolchepalooza. The boy looked at her in confusion.

"No, Tea, I meant what cards of mine are you going to have shuffled back into the deck," he clarified.

"Tristan, you should know by now that Tiaramisu doesn't target with that part of her effect. I don't make that choice until the effect resolves," she huffed.

"Oh... right," Tristan replied. He glanced at his two set cards before deciding he couldn't win this game. "You got this one." He scooped up his cards. Tea giggled and give a small fist pump, while Tristan shook his head, laughing to himself. "How embarrassing. I just got my ass kicked by desserts." Tea and Yugi laughed.

"So are you excited about Spellbook of Judgment, Yugi?" Tea asked.

"Well, I'm fairly certain it's necessary for Spellbooks to keep up with Dragons. The card's too powerful against everything else, though. And the mirror match is going to be hellacious," he began.

"How so?" Tristan asked.

"Well, Spellbook of Judgment counts all spells activated, even the opponent's, and it's a quick-play, so in the mirror match you could activate it on your opponent's turn and that will keep them from making any real plays," Yugi said with a sigh. "That mirror match won't be fun. Honestly, I don't thinkg I'd play the deck at a large tournament unless I thought I'd pretty much only be playing against Dragons." Yugi bit his lip, thinking about the issue. On one hand, he already had the entire Spellbook deck assembled, minus the soon to be released Spellbook of Judgment. Also, he knew the deck quite well, and had no doubt in his ability to pilot it. However, the Dragon Ruler deck would likely have a much more skill based mirror match, which made it rather appealing, despite the fact that Yugi thought it would have a tougher time against Spellbooks. The truly better choice, in his mind, depended on which deck was more popular. "It's going to take some time to determine which deck is better. And obviously I'll need to test them both." Tristan and Tea nodded. There was a reason Yugi was the best, and they did everything they could to learn from him. Though, they tended to be less competitive, and usually ended up judging more events than they played. At that moment, the three high school kids heard the front door burst open and they simultaneously turned to see Joey dashing towards them.

"Dudes! Have you read the new Spellbook card?!" He asked frantically, still panting after running for who knows how long. The trio stared at him for a few seconds before they all burst into laughter. "Hey! What's so funny?"

"A little slow on the uptake, as usual, Joey," Tristan teased. Joey fumed.

"Well excuse me for my enthusiasm but this card is insane!" He yelled.

"Yea, big guy, we know," Tea said with a giggle. Joey rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Yugi, I thought you were going to ask Rena and Nat to come hang out with us," he said.

"I did, but Rena said she was busy, and Nat never texted me back so I guess she's busy too," he said, a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Aww man," Tristan said. "I really wanted to meet them. Joey said they were pretty hot." Tea smacked Tristan on the shoulder before glaring at Joey.

"Is that all you two think about? Hot chicks and Duel Monsters?" she scolded. Joey contemplated the question for a moment, before grinning as he gave his reply.

"More or less," he said, earning himself a hit from the girl. Yugi just laughed at his friend's antics.

"It's understandable that they'd be busy," he said. "They are in college. Plus, they might not want to hang out with us, we're just high school kids."

"Who are these girls anyway?" Tea asked.

"Oh it's Rena Bishop and her friend Nat," Joey stated.

"Oh! The girl who almost beat Yugi at Worlds?" the girl responded. Yugi nodded his head. "Now I know why you're so interested in her. Joey's right, she was pretty attractive." Tea nudged Yugi teasingly in response, which caused the shorter boy's face to turn about the same color as the tips of his hair, which only spurred on Tea's teasing. Yugi shook his head. He couldn't deny that the girl was pretty, but Yugi honestly wasn't interested in her that way, and he knew she wouldn't be either, largely due to their age gap.

"You're being ridiculous. I just thought she'd be a cool friend. And perhaps it'd be nice to have someone else to play against on a regular basis. It's not like I can duel Kaiba, he never has time," he said with resignation.

"Yea, and he's a bit of a dick," Joey muttered. "I don't know how you hang out with that guy at all." Yugi chuckled.

"In small doses, he's not so bad. He's just..." Yugi thought for a moment about his word choice. "Passionate." The other three just stared at Yugi and concluded that all of the dueling had caused him to go temporarily insane.

"_When was Kaiba ever bearable_?" they thought.

**Chapter 4 Card Database:**

Spellbook of Judgment – Quick-Play Spell – During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook of Judgment", up to the number of Spell Cards activated after this card's resolution, then, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 Spellcaster-Type monster whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards added to your hand by this effect. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Judgment" per turn.

Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos – Effect Monster / Level 7 / Fire / Dragon / ATK: 2800 / DEF: 1800 – If this card is in your hand or Graveyard: You can banish a total of 2 FIRE and/or Dragon-Type monsters from your hand and/or Graveyard, except this card; Special Summon this card. During your opponent's End Phase, if this card was Special Summoned: Return it to the hand. You can discard this card and 1 FIRE monster to the Graveyard, then target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. If this card is banished: You can add 1 FIRE Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use 1 "Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks – Effect Monster / Level 3 / Fire / Dragon / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 200 – You can discard this card AND 1 Dragon-Type or FIRE monster; Special Summon 1 "Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos" from your Deck. It cannot attack this turn. You can only use the effect of "Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks" once per turn.

Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 7 / Wind / Machine / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2200 / 2 Level 7 monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; Special Summon 2 "Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens" (Machine-Type/WIND/Level 3/ATK 0/DEF 0). While you control a Token, this card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 "Mecha Phantom Beast" monster, then target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. This card cannot attack during the turn you activate this effect.

Sacred Sword of Seven Stars – Spell – Banish 1 Level 7 monster from your hand or face-up from your side of the field; draw 2 cards. You can only activate 1 "Sacred Sword of Seven Stars" per turn.

Pot of Greed – Spell – Draw 2 cards.

Super Rejuvenation – Quick-Play Spell – During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, draw a number of cards equal to the combined number of Dragon-Type monsters you discarded or Tributed from your hand or your side of the field this turn.

Gold Sarcophagus – Spell – Banish 1 card from your Deck, face-up. During your second Standby Phase after this card's activation, add that card to your hand.

Eradicator Epidemic Virus – Trap – Tribute 1 DARK monster with 2500 or more ATK, and choose Spell Cards or Trap Cards; check your opponent's hand, all Spell/Trap Cards they control, and all cards they draw until the end of their 3rd turn after this card's activation, and destroy all cards of the chosen type.

Madolche Queen Tiaramisu – Xyz / Effect Monster / Rank 4 / Earth / Fairy / ATK: 2200 / DEF: 2100 / 2 Level 4 "Madolche" monsters – Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target up to 2 "Madolche" cards in your Graveyard; shuffle those cards into the Deck, then shuffle cards your opponent controls into the Deck, up to the number of cards returned.

Madolche Magileine – Effect Monster / Level 4 / Earth / Spellcaster / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1200 – When this card you control is destroyed by your opponent's card (either by battle or by effect) and sent to your Graveyard: Shuffle this card into your Deck. When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned: You can add 1 "Madolche" monster from your Deck to your hand.

Madolchepalooza – Trap – Special Summon any number of "Madolche" monsters from your hand, but shuffle them into the Deck during the End Phase.

**Chapter 4 Glossary:**

Broken – A term most commonly used by players meaning that a particular card or strategy is exceptionally powerful, to the point that it changes the game in an unhealthy way, or "breaks" it. Often though, the cards described this way aren't necessarily unbalance or poorly designed, the players using it are simply overstating it or are using hyperbole.

Busted – Another term for broken.

Dragon Draw Exodia – A deck that used an engine consisting of Blue-Eyes White Dragon and various dragon discard and draw cards, along with Super Rejuvenation, to quickly draw as many cards as possible from the deck to win by obtaining the five pieces of Exodia.

Dragon Rulers – An archetype of dragon monsters debuting in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy. The introduction of these monsters changed the face of the game, and the deck pushed all other decks to the fringe of competition, save for Spellbooks, due to the power of Spellbook of Judgment, and Evilswarm, due to Evilswarm Ophion being a direct counter to Dragon Rulers. It focused on summoning the level seven dragons quickly and efficiently through the use of the level 3 and 4 dragons and then overlaying them for rank 7 monsters such as Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack and Number 11: Big Eye, as well as using level 1 tuners Flamvell Guard and Dragunity Corsesca, which could be searched when a level 7 fire or wind dragon was banished, to make level 8 synchro plays. It was extremely consistent and powerful, and the deck still exists as a powerhouse in competition today after three new Forbidden and Limited Lists since their release.

EEV – Eradicator Epidemic Virus.

LTGY – Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy

Madolche – An archetype of monsters that all share the effect that when they are destroyed and sent to the graveyard, they shuffle themselves back into the deck. Their names and artwork are based on french desserts. The level three monsters are all Beast-type, and their names are a pun between the dessert represented in their artwork and the sound the animal would make. The level fours are Spellcasters and Warriors, and their names are puns based on their dessert and their job. Originally released in Return of the Duelist, the archetype originally lacked in real power plays, until the introduction of Madolche Queen Tiaramisu in Abyss Rising. The archetype was further supported by the release of Madolche Hootcake in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy. This archetype is also my favorite deck, and the one I have owned the longest.

Mirror Match – A match where the same deck is played by both players. Depending on the nature of the deck, these matches are either extremely skillful or extremely luck based. In the case of Dragon Rulers, it was considered one of the most skillful mirror matches to date.


End file.
